Change of Plans
by iraswife1120
Summary: "Sessho-" her words caught in her throat. This man right here, she hadn't seen in years; the father of her child. Now she found herself sitting in his lap, wearing nothing but lingerie. In a strip club of all places. He cleared his throat and Kagome visibly flinched. "Have we met?"
1. You Belong With Me

AN: Okay so here is the first chapter to my newest story. This won't have as many chapters as my others. I hope you all enjoy this. If you are reading an know my situation(as explained in the AN of "What You Do") then I will say that writing this has helped me so much by keeping my mind off of things. So read, and then let me know what you think. I am expecting weekly updates at least, I have to take my laptop to my mother's to upload the chapter's but I try to write in my spare time, I've already gotten a quite a bit done.  
Enjoy :)

* * *

"Kagome, you look amazing!"

"Really?" the girl blushed while adjusting the hem of her shirt.

"Yes," Sango answered, "Inuyasha won't be able to take his eyes off of you."

Kagome and Sango were best friends and they had just spent the last couple of hours getting ready for one of the biggest events of their lives. They had graduated from high school a few weeks before, and tonight was the night that Inuyasha Takahashi would throw his graduation party. His parents were supposedly out of town, and Inuyasha invited over half of the graduating class. Anybody who's anybody was going to be there. The Takahashi family was pretty well known in the community. Inuyasha and his brother Sesshomaru were both upcoming mixed martial arts fighters. Their father, Toga, was the manager and head trainer for both of his sons. The elder of the two, Sesshomaru, was already being considered for future UFC fights. With Inuyasha finishing high school to focus his attention on his training he hoped to follow in his brother's footsteps, if not surpass him. If being drop dead gorgeous wasn't enough for their popularity, it was added that they were dangerous and untouchable. A perk of being their friend or girlfriend was that nobody messed with you. Both of the guys made sure to be careful whom they befriended.

Kagome and Inuyasha were very good friends, they even went to the prom together not even more than two months ago. It was a memorable night, Kagome had so much fun, and she also realized then that she was in love with her friend. The only problem was Kikyo Haruhe; Inuyasha's break up and make up girlfriend.

As far as most people were concerned, Inuyasha and Kagome would have made the perfect couple. They acted like they were married anyways. Not only that, but Kikyo was a straight bitch. She had a huge attitude problem and with that she made a lot of enemies. She also had a wandering eye and had been known to cheat on Inuyasha multiple times. That was usually the reason they would break up; she would get caught. Unfortunately for the friend zoned Kagome, Inuyasha always took Kikyo back. It was a never ending game that Kagome always seemed to lose, but she never gave up hope. Love never fails.

Tonight would be the night that her saying would prove itself. Kikyo had recently dumped Inuyasha and Kagome planned to finally make her move.

"Okay Sango, I'm ready." Kagome said while taking one last look at her outfit before it was too late to change her mind. She had on a tight pink tank top and made sure to wear a push up bra, giving her breasts some extra oomph. She wore a white cardigan with sleeves just past her elbow. Then she had on a pair of white shorts that were long enough to cover all of her female parts but short enough to draw attention, especially if she were to bend over. Keeping in mind that she would be drinking, Kagome wore a pair of cute pink boat shoes with white details. Her outfit was sexy yet comfortable. It wasn't hard to look good with a body like hers, though.

Sango smiled as the girls left Kagome's room and entered her car. She sent out a message to her boyfriend that they were on their way to the party.

"Was that Miroku you were texting?" Kagome asked while driving across town to get to Inuyasha's house.

"Yeah," Sango nodded, "he said he's running a little late. Something about his mom, but he'll be heading over as soon as he's done."

"Okay, I might need both of you guys for moral support."

"Oh Kagome," Sango shook her head and laughed, "now that Kiky-hoe finally left him for good I'm sure Inuyasha's realized that you've been there for him all along and that you're the one he's supposed to be with."

"You're the best, Sango…" Kagome's heart swelled at her best friends kind words. "I love you."

"Yeah, yeah." The brunette joked. "Just save it for Inuyasha."

* * *

Kagome and Sango frowned as they drove up to the Takahashi residence. The street was full of cars.

"Where should we park?" Sango asked with a frown. Neither of the girls felt like walking far.

"I guess I could just park in the drive way," Kagome answered as she turned in, "besides, maybe I'll just crash here with Inuyasha."

The girls laughed at Kagome's half serious joke. If all went according to plan, Kagome would spend the night cuddling with Inuyasha. Sango planned on leaving with Miroku anyways.

After checking their makeup in the visor mirrors, the girls stepped out of the car and made their way up to the large house. They let themselves in and made a beeline for the back patio, where they knew the keg would be.

Each of the girls poured themselves a cup of beer and smiled.

"This is probably one of the last parties Inuyasha will throw." Kagome said solemnly.

"You're right," Sango shook her head, "Well, let's make this last night a great night."

Kagome nodded in agreement.

"Bottoms up!" Sango raised her red cup with a smile.

Kagome grinned back and the girls made their little toast and chugged the first cup.

"Ahh." Kagome breathed out. "Yuck, that was gross."

"Yeah," Sango turned her nose up. "I say we find the flavored vodka."

"Agreed." Kagome followed Sango back into the house and they entered the kitchen, where all the bottles where kept.

As they entered the house, Kagome noticed Kikyo from across the room.

"What is she doing here?" Kagome asked, annoyed.

"I have no idea." Sango saw exactly who Kagome was referring to and glared. "Let's find Inuyasha."

"Right."

The girls were about to start searching when a drunk Inuyasha stumbled in the room and right into Kikyo's arms. Within seconds they were making out against the wall.

Kagome's expression darkened and she looked away. "I guess they made up then."

"That bitch." Sango said and then looked at her friend with a sad expression. "It's okay Kagome, come on, you look beautiful. Don't let them ruin your night. You can still have fun."

Kagome sighed. "Okay, Sango." She wanted to cry so badly but she wouldn't embarrass herself in front of everyone. "How about that liquor?" Anything to make her feel better.

Sango led her friend to the kitchen and they poured themselves a couple of shots with chasers. By the time Miroku arrived, both girls were far past tipsy. He sipped on his beer as the drunk and angry Kagome ranted about how upset she was. Eventually when she was done telling her story she did feel a lot better. They trio moved on to talk about other things but eventually Miroku and Sango's constant flirting and groping started to bother Kagome. She loved her friends but it was hard to watch them together; so in love.

Kagome frowned as her friends gazed into each other's eyes. '_Why can't I find a guy to care about me, like how Miroku cares about Sango?' _

"I'm gonna stretch my legs, guys." Kagome said walking away. She couldn't watch the love birds in front of her anymore without the urge to hunt down Kikyo and rip her face off. _'She's just going to cheat on Inuyasha again anyways!'_ The heated teen thought angrily.

Kagome wandered around the house in a drunken haze joining and leaving random conversations. She hadn't seen Inuyasha and Kikyo since earlier and it eased her senses not having them all up in her face.

_'Ugh,' _Kagome thought, '_I'm so drunk. I need to relax for a minute, or something.'_

She made her way over to one of the spare rooms. It was locked. The second room was locked. The third room was also locked, frustrating her.

_'What the hell? I just wanted to sit somewhere quiet for a minute.'_

The fourth room Kagome tried was unlocked, but she regretted opening the door as she walked in on some couple from her high school having sex.

"Sorry!" she shrieked, jumping right back out of the room slamming the door shut. She leaned her back on the hard wood. "Okay, I guess relaxing isn't going to happen."

Kagome gave up trying to find a quiet place and headed back to the kitchen. The room was full of strangers. Kagome looked at all the faces.

_'I don't recognize anyone.'_ She frowned, confused. _'I'm not that drunk am I?'_

Her musings were interrupted when a hard body crashed into her small frame.

Kagome barely avoided falling flat on her face but she spilled her drink all over her chest, arms, and tank top.

"You've got to be kidding me!" She complained on the floor as she looked down at herself. The liquid dripping down between her breasts.

That was when a guy who looked just like Inuyasha grabbed her arms to help her back up and chastised the guy who ran into her.

She didn't recognize him at first, her mind in a drunken haze. After a few seconds of awkwardly staring at him he glared. Kagome apologized for staring.

Then she remembered, '_This is Inuyasha's older brother Sesshomaru. The people in the kitchen must have been his friends; of course he'd invite his own friends to a party at his house!'_

Sesshomaru ordered the man who bumped into her to clean up the spilt mess on the floor. He told Kagome to follow him as he led her to a bathroom.

"You can clean yourself up in here, I apologize for earlier."

"It's okay," she said with gratitude for his kindness, "it's not like it was your fault."

"Not completely," he admitted, "but we were roughhousing before he tripped and knocked you down."

"Oh!" she exclaimed, "well, don't worry about it."

He nodded and started to turn away but Kagome caught his attention again.

"Crap!" Kagome said frustrated as she tried to open the door. "It's locked." She could barely make out the word _taken_ from the other side of the door.

He took a sip of his strong drink and he shook his head. It was partially his fault that the girl was covered in alcohol, damn his honor.

"You can use my bathroom." He said as he walked away, fully expecting her to follow him.

"Oh," she said surprised, "okay." Then she made a face, she didn't know where his bathroom was. She'd only been to this house a few times in the past and she had certainly never been to his room let alone in his bathroom. As he turned around and began to depart she realized that he would take her there and rushed behind. She shook her head; drinking made her so slow sometimes.

Sesshomaru led her to his bedroom, using the key to unlock the door. Like hell he'd leave it unlocked, then any of his brothers dumb friends would wander in. He wasn't having that.

Sesshomaru held the door open for her and before Kagome walked inside she managed to glance a few doors down and saw Inuyasha and Kikyo making out against the wall near his room.

She felt a pang in her heart and jealous tears prickled at her eyes, threatening to spill as she hurried into Sesshomaru's room. She walked into the middle of the large room and waited for him to tell her which of the two closed doors along the wall was his bathroom.

"It's to the left." He pointed out, while closing his door behind him. Kagome walked into his bathroom while Sesshomaru went to sit on his bed to wait for her. His head spun as he lowed himself down on the soft mattress. He was half tempted to lie down and fall asleep; the alcohol in his veins was making him a bit dizzy. He didn't want that to happen though, so he instead decided to stand up while he waited.

Inside the bathroom, Kagome was using a damp washcloth to clean the mess off of her. She was frustrated upon realizing that the liquid had not only spilt all over her upper body but made its way between her boobs and was soaking into her expensive bra.

"Great," she grumbled, "now my new bra's going to stink like vodka and orange juice."

Once Kagome was satisfied that her skin was no longer going to be sticky she tossed the towel into a nearby laundry basket.

She turned to leave, but stopped to look at the large mirror once more. Her mind went back to the image she saw just minutes ago. Inuyasha and Kikyo.

_'Why did he always go back to her? '_She thought solemnly. '_What does Kikyo have that I don't?_

Kagome stared at herself in the mirror, mentally comparing herself with the other girl. They both had the same hair color; black. Although, Kagome's hair went down to the small of her back, while Kikyo's was down to her waist. They both had fair skin complexions, except Kagome had a slight tan to hers, but don't most people like to be tan? Kikyo was a couple inches taller than Kagome, but both were shorter than Inuyasha. Maybe it was her eyes, Kikyo had brown eyes, and Kagome's eyes were blue. Did Inuyasha not like blue eyes? Kagome had smaller boobs than Kikyo, but she wasn't flat, and they looked great in a pushup bra anyways.

Was it her personality? No it couldn't be that. Kikyo was sort of a bitch. Well actually she was a lot of a bitch. She always cheated on Inuyasha, and Kagome was always his shoulder to cry on. He was never really that happy when he was around Kikyo unless they were getting it on. As a couple, they fought every day. The only fights Kagome had with Inuyasha were about him being dumb enough to fall for Kikyo's lies. Kagome was a way nicer person than Kikyo.

"So what the fuck?" She glared in the mirror, frustrated. She could drive herself crazy trying to figure out what hold Kikyo had on Inuyasha that she herself just couldn't compare to.

She exhaled sharply, the alcohol within her only added fuel to the fire. She was drunk, pissed off, disregarded, jealous, and confused.

Without thinking about it she swung the door open and marched straight up to the man who somewhat resembled her beloved.

"What is wrong with your brother!?" she asked angrily.

* * *

Thanks for reading.


	2. Lost in Paradise

AN: Here is chapter 2. Hope you all like the lemon ;P

* * *

Sesshomaru furrowed his brows for a moment. Was this girl crazy?

He frowned and answered, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"He always goes back to her! I don't exist when she's around. What does Kikyo have that I don't?" Kagome's anger quickly dissipated into sadness. She was really about to take her anger out on the innocent bystander who had just helped her!

Sesshomaru looked at her like she grew a third eye. Who's Kikyo? Then it dawned on him. Kikyo was Inuyasha's girlfriend and this was the girl that he always hung out with when Kikyo wasn't around.

Avoiding her question completely he asked, "What's your name?"

Her mouth dropped open. _'Really?'_ Then she realized just how psycho she was acting right now. She'd never even been introduced to this guy yet she's talking to him like he was Miroku or something.

"Oh god," Kagome shook her head and blushed with embarrassment, "I'm so sorry, I'm Kagome, Inuyasha's friend? I don't know if you remember seeing me around…" she trailed off embarrassed.

"I remember you."

Kagome looked up at him. "Really?" It seemed as though she didn't exist as long as Kikyo was around.

"I'm not stupid like my little brother," he smirked, "I just didn't know your name."

"Oh," she focused her attention at an imaginary spot on the floor, "right. Now **I** feel stupid." She said nervously. _'Did I really just say that out loud?'_ Kagome frowned at her thoughts. She was making a fool of herself. "Okay," she turned around, "I'm just gonna go."

Sesshomaru chuckled. This girl was amusing.

"Kagome." He called out as she was about to exit. He usually didn't talk to any of his brother's friends, but he had been drinking; so why not?

"Hm?" She held onto the doorknob while looking back at him.

"I don't know you or Kikyo," he looked the girl up and down before continuing, "but from what I've seen, you are much more attractive than her."

Kagome smiled and took a few steps towards him. "Really?" He obviously just checked her out, and for some reason, it made her feel good.

He shrugged and then nodded. "Yeah."

"What makes you think so?" Kagome was back to standing right in front of him. She needed to hear it from someone other than Sango, maybe then she'd believe it.

"Do you want me to spell it out for you?"

"Well no, not really," Kagome blushed, looking away, "it's just, Inuyasha makes it seem like Kikyo's better than me in every way. I guess I just started to believe it myself." Sesshomaru's eyebrows rose at her admission. "I mean, she just left him after she got caught cheating AGAIN, and he still took her back. I've been a great friend to him, so why doesn't he-" Sesshomaru cut her off. He really couldn't care less about Inuyasha's relationships.

"Why are you so infatuated with my brother?"

"Huh?"

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Why is it that you are so infatuated with Inuyasha?"

"I- I don't know," she answered honestly. Why was she? He obviously made her feel like she wasn't important.

Sesshomaru felt a bit guilty as he saw her face fall into a deep frown. Did he feel sorry for her? Maybe. She looked like she was about to cry.

"My brother is an idiot for choosing that girl over you."

"You're not just saying that are you?"

He looked at her, slightly offended. "Why would I lie?"

"Right," Kagome shook her head, "I'm sorry." Then she laughed nervously. "I just don't think when I drink, I guess."

Sesshomaru smiled at her antics. He told the truth when he said that she was more attractive than Kikyo. This was without doubt one of the best looking girls that was at the party.

Kagome blushed under his stare. _'He is definitely checking me out!'_ Hell, he was looking at her like a wolf would look at its prey right before attacking.

Sesshomaru noticed her blush from his gaze and his lips turned upward. He knew the affect he had on women.

Sesshomaru smirked and took a moment to check the time on his phone. He was sure that everyone would be leaving soon. He looked back up to the pretty girl standing in front of him and thought to himself, '_Why not?'_

Sesshomaru took a step closer to Kagome. Instead of stepping back she kept her ground and looked up at him. Her eyes were shining with curiosity. He took that as his chance.

He bent forward, closing the distance between them as their lips made contact.

She returned the kiss, and his tongue made its way into her mouth. She wrapped her arms around his neck but somehow regained some of her senses.

"Wait," she said breathlessly, "you're Inuyasha's brother." She wasn't sure who she was reminding more, him or herself.

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes. His lips brushed against hers and he whispered, "If you want me to stop, I'll stop."

Kagome pondered on the idea for a moment and Sesshomaru took her silence as his cue to continue.

His lips crashed onto hers much more forcefully than before. This time she wouldn't protest.

They made out with a heated frenzy and Sesshomaru wrapped his arms around Kagome's waist, pulling her closer as he backed towards the bed.

Sesshomaru felt the edge hit his calves and he sat down pulling her on top of him. Kagome straddled his lap with one knee resting on the bed and one foot on the floor.

Sesshomaru rested his hands on her hips and she had her arms wrapped around his neck. He was strong, so with this position he was able to lift her up and turned them around. Smoothly laying her on the bed he broke his lips away from hers to trail open mouth kisses all way down her neck. He could taste the sweetness from the juice that she had spilled and hastily cleaned up.

One hand slid underneath the hem of her jeans and he traced his thumb along the front pantyline of her thong. His used his left arm to balance himself as he laid beside her and his left hand was gripping her hair.

Kagome bit back a moan as he got closer to her treasure. She ran her hands on his hard, muscled chest while trailing down to reach for his shirt, lifting it upwards so she could feel his skin. He did her a favor and quickly sat up to pull his shirt over his head, tossing it on the floor. As he turned his attention back to her, he smirked, watching her follow his example and taking her two tops off.

She was wearing a simple black bra but her breasts looked like they just wanted to pop right out. She caught him staring at her chest and, without a word, shifted to unclasp her bra. Sesshomaru moved to get on top and this time was the one to straddle her. Once on top, he reached forward to slowly take her bra off and release the round orbs for his own enjoyment.

Sesshomaru was a boob guy and Kagome had a perfect rack. Each mound fit his hands perfectly. He wanted to taste them. Lowering his head down, he enclosed her right nipple in his mouth. Gently sucking and swirling his tongue around the hardening tips.

He was rewarded with a loud moan from Kagome and decided to test the limits and see what she liked. With that in mind, he lightly bit down on the swollen pebble.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, arching her back and plump mound further into his mouth. She gripped the sheets tightly as he bit and sucked one nipple and rolled the other one between his fingers.

Sesshomaru then switched sides; what you do to one, you must do to the other. Kagome thought she could die from how good it felt. Nobody had ever paid such attention to her breasts.

When he was done using his mouth, he sat back and just squeezed each breast, as if bidding them farewell. He had another prize to take. He used his tongue to trace his way down the valley between her full mounds, and dipped his head even further below. He unbuttoned her shorts and pulled them down to her ankles, along with her panties.

The alcohol in her system gave her the courage to let him gaze upon her body with confidence. While staring at the beautiful girl on his bed, Sesshomaru stood to undo his belt and pull his pants and boxer briefs off. His aching bulge was free and stood fully erect as he rubbed along the shaft. Kagome was shameless as she grinned while watching his movements. The rigid member was an intimidating length and she wasn't sure if his girth would be too big for her. She wanted to touch it but Sesshomaru had other plans for them.

He sat back on the bed and looked at her most secret place. The petals were already glistening with her sweet nectar and told him that she was all ready for him.

But Sesshomaru was a generous lover, so he leaned over her body and sucked on her neck while one of his digits found its way to her slit. He knew exactly where to move to find the little bundle of nerves and made sure to rub circles around it until her body was quivering beneath him. She dug her fingers into his long hair and her nails scratched his scalp as she climaxed.

"OH!" her eyes widened and she thrust her hips forward. "Sessho! Ughn."

He smirked against her flesh and moved a finger just a bit south. She was so wet; he added another finger to her core. He used them to prepare her for himself and she was gasping at his touch.

When she reached her second orgasm, her walls clenched his fingers and he continued his ministrations until she was completely driven over the edge. His loins were throbbing as he imagined it was his cock inside of her. She was yelling his name out now, and it felt so amazing she had tears shining in her eyes.

Sesshomaru removed his fingers from her and positioned the tip of his member at her entrance. He used her juices on his hands to lube his manhood before he started to push. She was so tight, but her nectar was so abundant that he was able to slide in with one deep thrust.

"Fuck!" Kagome leaned up with her eyes widening as he buried himself within her. He filled her completely and she could feel herself stretching as she did her best to take him in.

Sesshomaru ground his hips forward giving her his full length. She was so tight around him. It felt wonderful. He slowly slid out of her and his cock was glistening from her sweet liquids. He drove himself back into her and again, pushed himself as far as he could go. Kagome threw her head back in ecstasy at the feeling.

He had one hand on her hip to steady her and his other arm was above her head. She wrapped her legs around his waist and ran her hands along his muscular arms. The senses from touching his body just added to the delight he was giving her.

Once they found their rhythm, Sesshomaru started thrusting wildly inside of her with frenzy. He pounded himself into her and the room was filled with the sounds of skin smacking against skin, his grunting, and her cries of pleasure.

Eventually Kagome reached her plateau and she gripped at Sesshomaru's skin, nearly breaking it. A wave of pleasure hit her and she screamed his name out as he brought her to release. He felt her vaginal walls squeezing his own cock as he continued his thrusting. She was instantly wetter and he found himself drenched and ready to follow her in ecstasy. With a few more pumps, he was over the edge with her.

He grunted as his cock pulsated and he felt himself explode within her. His hot seed coated her walls as he pushed as deep as he could into her warm folds.

They were both panting by the time they came back from cloud nine. Sesshomaru slowly pulled his swollen member out of her, and it twitched a few times before it started to go limp. He moved to lay beside her and she turned to face him both of their eyes closed.

No words were exchanged between the two. Sesshomaru rested his hand on her hip and Kagome trailed her hands along his arms and well toned physique.

The large amount of alcohol consumed as well as the exhausting and extremely satisfying intercourse had them both out within minutes.

* * *

Kagome woke up the next morning with her phone's text tone going off. She kept her eyes shut, willing herself to fall back asleep. The first few things she registered were that head hurt, she felt slightly nauseous, her throat was dry, she was not in her bed, and she couldn't remember much from last night other than bits and pieces. She moved to stretch and realized she was trapped with a muscular arm around her waist and she currently was snuggled up against a warm body behind her. Not only was she not alone in the bed; her nether regions were particularly sore. She slowly felt herself come to her senses at that revelation and her eyes shot open.

_'Did I sleep with Inuyasha last night?'_

She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. But then a few moments passed and it occurred to her that this was not Inuyasha's room… and this was absolutely not Inuyasha's bed!

_'Oh no,'_ Kagome cringed, _'what have I done?' _She didn't have to look to know that she wasn't wearing anything, and by the feel against her skin, the person behind her was naked as well.

She dreaded doing so, but turned her head back to see just who it was that she had slept with.

Her jaw dropped. "Se-Sesshomaru?" she said more to herself than to him, but it was enough to wake him from his sleep.

He sighed as he left his dreamland and slowly opened his lids. Pools of gold locked onto Kagome's sapphire orbs. Both bodies dared not to move.

It felt like longer but after a few seconds Sesshomaru let out a breath. "Good morning." He smoothly lifted his arm from Kagome's waist and backed away on the bed.

"Hi." The syllable was all Kagome could muster up as she pulled the blanket over her chest while sitting up; trying to keep some of her dignity. She looked at her fist, bunching the fabric up, and tried piecing together the events of the night before. She didn't even notice Sesshomaru getting out of bed and putting a pair of basketball shorts on.

He stretched, thinking about his predicament. The girl in his bed, this was the girl who followed his little brother around looking like a lost puppy. His eyes landed on her clothes not too far away from him. He gathered the pile from the floor and walked around the bed to deposit it beside her.

"Thank you." She said quietly. Kagome had never in her life felt more awkward than she did at this moment. She slept with her crush's brother! What kind of girl does that? Certainly not the kind of girl that she figured herself to be.

Sesshomaru's only response was a nod and then he quickly made his way to the bathroom to give her some privacy. While she was in his room putting her clothes back on, Sesshomaru was sitting against the edge of his bathroom counter thinking about the situation he was in. Yes he'd had his fair share of one night stands and hook ups in the past, and even recently, but other than this girl and one other those weren't young girls that associated with his brother.

The two boys fought enough as it was. Sesshomaru didn't need the immature kid getting on his case about sleeping with all of his friends. The last time he slept with one of Inuyasha's friends his brother threw the biggest temper tantrum, and Sesshomaru put him in a choke hold till he passed out just to shut him up. No, he really didn't want to get into any unnecessary drama with his idiot brother. It wasn't worth it to hear his annoying mouth.

With that in mind Sesshomaru entered his bedroom and sized up the girl sitting on his bed. She looked like she was in line to be executed.

"You're expression tells me that it wasn't worth it." He joked. Sesshomaru wasn't much of a jokester either, but with the look on her face he just couldn't resist.

"Huh?" Kagome's eyes widened when she realized just what he meant. "Oh gosh, no! Or," she blushed, "I mean, yes; it was amazing..." Her face was crimson and she smacked her hand against her forehead. "Oh my gosh." She was thoroughly embarrassed.

"It was a joke." Sesshomaru smirked. "I know you liked it." He said smugly. He knew she loved it, he enjoyed it as well.

"Sorry." She apologized. She just was at a loss and feeling very confused. Especially because she liked it very much. So much, that if it was with anyone other than Inuyasha's older brother she'd probably ask for more.

This girl was obviously not like most of the girls he'd hooked up with, he surmised. With that in mind he chose his next words carefully.

"Kagome," he said, getting her full attention, "let's get you out of here before my brother wakes up and you lose any chance of being with him."

"Really?"

He shrugged. "It was just sex. Although, if you are successful in your endeavors I doubt he'd ever give you anything close to what you had last night." He was oh so smug.

Kagome's mouth dropped open at his words. '_Did he really just say that?'_

* * *

_In another room…_

Inuyasha was sitting at the table eating dry toast and drinking coffee. His head was pounding and he frowned looking at the mess that was his kitchen. '_I'm gonna have to clean this all up before mom and dad get home.'_ He sighed and stood up. _'Might as well start now, it would take a few hours before the house looks back to normal_.' He was sure that he'd have to go through every room too.

As he got up to put his plate in the sink, he heard his phone go off. He walked back over to the table and picked it up; he had a text from Sango.

It read: _Is Kags still at ur place_

"Kagome?" he thought aloud. '_I didn't even know she came last night._' He narrowed his eyes at the message and responded with a simple question mark.

Within a few seconds she replied: _I left with Miroku. She was with ur bros friends. Hasnt responded to any of my texts since last night._

Inuyasha's head tilted. He had no idea Kagome went to his party, he didn't see her. He didn't think so. He was really drunk though, did he see her? He crossed his arms and thought long and hard about the night before. He could remember bits and pieces of it, most was a blur though.

Then it hit him. He did see Kagome last night. He was making out with Kikyo by his room and he looked over and saw Kagome.

"But…" he frowned as his memories slowly came back. Kagome was walking through a door way, and that door way was the entrance to… "No."

He couldn't believe it. "There's no way." Inuyasha shook his head. "He wouldn't… she wouldn't… could they?"

Slowly he moved his heavy legs out of the kitchen and towards his older brother's room, with each step his pace increased. He was just down the hall when he heard a door open. The extra light shining in the hallway told him that it was Sesshomaru's door that was opened.

Inuyasha froze in place, anxiously waiting to see who would walk out of the door. He locked eyes with his brother, and the smirk on his face was all Inuyasha needed to see to know exactly who was about to step into the hall.

Within seconds a black haired, blue eyed girl walked out of the room with a small smile on her face, until she looked up.

"Ka- Kagome?" Inuyasha stuttered.

Kagome's eyes widened and her mouth opened to form a small 'O'.

"Inuyasha…" Kagome was frozen in place, unsure of what to do.

"You fucked Sesshomaru?" he asked incredulously before answering the question in his mind. "You fucked my brother!"

"Calm down." Sesshomaru rolled his eyes. "It was no big deal."

"No big deal?" Inuyasha's heated gaze turned to his sibling.

"Correct." Sesshomaru was not in the mood to argue. "It was a onetime occurrence. Besides, you have a girlfriend, what does it matter what Kagome and I did last night?"

Inuyasha's jaw dropped and closed like fish for a few moments while he searched for an explanation. Yes he had a girlfriend, but this was still wrong.

"It doesn't matter," Inuyasha said. "Kagome," he turned to the girl, "I thought we were friends. I didn't know you were just using me to get to my brother."

"Excuse me?" she said, shocked at his accusation. Her hand flew over her heart.

"Save it." Inuyasha held his hand up to stop her. "Whatever friendship we had is over."

"But Yash I-" she tried to explain. It was an accident. A drunken mistake! She didn't mean to sleep with Sesshomaru. It was a moment of weakness, one thing just led to another.

"Fuck you Kagome." He interrupted her, feeling hurt, even though he didn't understand why. "Just get the fuck out of my house." He spun around and stormed off towards the opposite side of the house. He felt betrayed by Kagome, and was tempted to punch Sesshomaru's face in.

Kagome didn't dare move a muscle until Inuyasha's body was out of sight. Sesshomaru was the one to bring her out of her trance.

"I'll walk you to the door."

She looked up at him, with tears prickling her eyes. Without a word, she started walking to the entrance of the house.

"Did you drive yourself here?" he asked.

"Yeah," she answered quietly. Kagome couldn't help but feel like she just had her heart broken. She was so upset. She might have just ruined any chance she had to ever be with Inuyasha.

Sesshomaru held the door open for her and neither exchanged goodbyes as she walked out and made a beeline for her car. Once she sat inside she turned her head to see that Sesshomaru was no longer there; nobody was watching. So she finally let the tears fall.

* * *

Thanks for reading, review please; let me know what you think :)


	3. Houstalantavegas

AN: Thanks for the reviews everyone, glad you all like it so far :)

* * *

Kagome examined her reflection in the mirror. She saw a vixen looking back at her. Gone was the young, dumb, and naïve girl she once was. Kagome had long dark hair, fair skin, and deep blue eyes. She had a great body and a pretty face. Her makeup was done perfectly. Not too much was needed though, just some eyeliner, mascara, and lip gloss. Her hair was straightened and trailed to the small of her back.

"Reina!"

Kagome looked away from the glass and turned her head towards the voice calling out her stage name.

"Why are you in the dressing room?" her manager chastised, "you should be out there making money."

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Oh please Louie, there's no one out there to make money from."

"Well that's because there's no girls on the floor to bring them in."

"Well I've been here all night," she narrowed her eyes at her friend, "so then consider this my break."

"Reina…"

"Look," she pouted, "I've had a long day, and we close in a half hour anyways."

This time it was Louie's turn to roll his eyes. Sometimes he hated his job. He was one of the managers at the biggest club in town. It wasn't that hard of a job, but the dancers could be impossible to work with. Kagome was one of his best girls though, so he decided to give her a break.

"Did you tip everyone out?" he asked the girl, who had already traded her platform heels for flip flops.

She smirked. "Don't I always?"

"Alright then, go home."

"Really?" Kagome's eyes lit up. "Yes! Thank you."

"Yeah, yeah." He mumbled walking out of the large room.

Kagome hurried over to her locker and quickly opened it, to pull out her bag. Taking off her work clothes, she put on a pair of yoga pants and a large t-shirt. Then she took off her jewelry and threw it all into the bag before digging through it for her car keys.

"Got ya!" she exclaimed, holding them in the air.

With the keys in hand she closed her locker, grabbed her cell phone from off the counter, and proceeded to leave the dressing room. She slowed down upon her exit, as the club was dimly lit, especially along her path. She always was cautious not to run into anyone or anything in the dark.

The club itself was very large. There were tables scattered about with small electric candles, and the stage was huge, the pole in the center was very tall, reaching the ceiling it had to be at least thirty feet in length. The club was two stories and there was a grand staircase leading from the second floor to the stage. The second floor was reserved for VIP guests. There were also a few private rooms as well. The whole club was decorated very ornately. Large paintings and mirrors along the walls. Top notch lighting and sound. Statues of beautiful women. This was by far the nicest club within hundreds of miles. One thing Kagome liked about working there was that they also made sure to hire only the best looking women around. That meant no strung out strippers to deal with. The majority of ladies working there were in their late twenties, but the club was such a money maker that some women were dancing in their forties. Although, these women were all healthy and still looked amazing.

Kagome reached the entrance and spoke to the door girl for a few minutes before one of the many bouncers made his way over to her.

"Louie said you were leaving early?" he asked while walking over to her and extending his arm.

"Yes," Kagome answered, while handing her bag over to him.

"Lucky you," he shook his head as they walked outside, "I still have another half hour at least before I leave."

She smiled at him. There wasn't much to say back. She could only agree that she was much luckier to leave than be stuck bored on a slow night. Once they walked the short distance to her car he gave back her bag and she made sure to tip him well.

"Thank you," she said, entering her car. The man nodded as he waited for her to leave the parking lot before he returned inside the building.

Kagome looked at the time on her phone; it was a little after 2am. Her small apartment was not a far drive from the club, and the best thing about late night/early morning was the lack of traffic. It did not take long for her to make it home.

Once she found the parking lot, she circled around for a spot. There was never a good place to park when all of her neighbors were in bed before she was even home. She usually got one of the farther parking spaces, which worried her. There were creeps in the world. She was always paranoid about meeting one of them on her way from the car to the building. So just like every other night, she sprinted from her car to the front door. Did she look a bit foolish? Possibly. Did it matter? No. Not like anyone except the crazy person she's running from in her mind would even see her.

She laughed at her strange paranoia. Did the other dancers also run from their cars to their homes? Probably not.

When she finally made it to her apartment she quietly unlocked the door. She found her roommate, Sango asleep on the couch as usual.

'_Does she ever crash in her room?_' the woman thought with a smile. She grabbed a throw blanket and placed it lovingly over her best friend.

Kagome then silently walked over to her bedroom and pushed the mostly closed door all the way open. The room was dark, but she knew where everything was supposed to be and dropped her bag near the dresser. She didn't turn on the lights because she wasn't alone in the room.

There was a male sleeping underneath her blankets. She smiled as she lifted the covers and slid in beside him, pulling him close.

The figure in her arms stirred, "Mm."

"Goodnight, Kenichi." Kagome whispered and kissed his forehead.

Her only response was the small body snuggling even closer towards her.

She was exhausted and soon drifted off to sleep with him.

* * *

"Mommy."

…

"Mommy."

Kagome groaned; she did not want to wake up.

"Mommy! Wake up."

She felt two small hands squeezing her shoulders and opened her eyes half way.

Looking back at her were two golden eyes.

"I'm up." She said, with a sigh.

"Yay!" the child jumped off of the bed.

"Sweetie," Kagome said sitting up, "don't jump off the bed."

He pretended not to hear her as he ran out of the room, fully expecting her to follow.

Kagome shook her head at her son's antics. He was a typical three year old child; Hyper, rambunctious and somewhat of a mama's boy.

She stretched her arms above her head and turned to see how early it was. She hated working a third shift job when she had a child to wake up with every morning.

After tilting her head to each side and taking a deep breath, she got up and left her bedroom to locate her son.

She found him in the kitchen standing on top of a chair that he had pushed against the fridge.

"Kenichi!" she said angrily while rushing over to grab him. "What have I told you about climbing on the furniture?"

He pouted while she placed him back on the floor.

Kagome crossed her arms and looked at him, waiting for his answer.

"No climbing."

"Exactly," she confirmed, "if you want something that's out of your reach, you need to wait and ask me to get it for you."

"I'm sowwy."

"Just remember for next time." She smiled at his apologetic expression.

It was so hard for her to stay mad at him for long. Especially when he was the cutest three year old in existence. Kenichi had the most mesmerizing honey eyes, a cute button nose, and the most adorable pouty mouth. His hair was smooth, silky, and silver. The only thing Kagome disliked about her son was that he looked nothing like her. It was as if he was a clone of his father, and all of her genes were just passed over. Well, except for his smile, that is. Kenichi had his mother's smile and she loved it.

"Now," she pushed the chair back to the table, "what is it that you wanted?"

"Lucky!" he answered while pointing to the red box on top of the refrigerator.

"You want your cereal for breakfast?" she asked.

The boy nodded with a smile that would brighten any day.

Kagome set herself to the easy task of getting the boy his bowl of cereal. He loved his Lucky Charms, which was one thing he got from his mother.

"You know what, sweetie?" She placed the bowl on the table for the boy. "I think cereal sounds like a good idea. I'll have some too."

Kenichi smiled at his mother as she copied his choice for breakfast.

The two spent the morning together watching cartoons and Kagome teaching her son during commercials. He was three years old and thanks to Kagome, he could count to 20, he knew his full name and age, he was able to recognize the names of number and letters, and he knew how to make calls on a cell phone.

Kagome was unsure if he was ahead of other kids his age or not, but she wasn't comparing him to anyone. He would always be number one in her eyes. Thankfully Kagome made enough money dancing that she was able to trim her work schedule to only three nights a week. It gave her more time to spend with her son, and she didn't feel as guilty for having Sango babysit all the time.

Sango worked first shift at a nearby gym; she was also enrolled at the local college for a degree in business. Eventually she hoped to open her own gym. She was very ambitious and Kagome always felt bad whenever Sango would babysit Kenichi with the little free time she had. Sango would never complain though; she loved Kagome and Kenichi very much.

Kagome had recently started saving money for her own educational goals. When Kenichi started school, Kagome would be able to spend that extra free time doing some school of her own. She could take some classes now but Sango would never let Kagome waste money on a daycare and Kagome didn't trust people with her child anyways.

"Mommy," Kenichi, was looking out the patio door, "can we go owside today?"

The sun was shining and the few clouds in the sky looked like giant, white cotton candy. All Kagome wanted to do was relax. She didn't get that much sleep and she was tired. But it was beautiful outside, and she wouldn't let her son miss out on such a nice day because of her.

"Sure honey," she answered with a smile. "Let's get dressed and we can go to the park for a bit."

"Okay!" he clapped with joy.

Kagome followed her son into their bedroom and she went to his dresser to get his play clothes out. A pair of worn jeans, a TMNT shirt, and then his socks. She laid his clothes out on the bed.

"Here Kenichi. Put your clothes on and then you can watch TV while mommy gets ready."

Kagome grabbed a pair of shorts and a lace-back tank top. Then she went into the bathroom to fix her slept in makeup and brush her hair.

"Alright," she walked into the living room, "I'm ready, let's get your shoes on."

The little boy ran up to the door and put his shoes on. Then he sat down and stretched his legs out so that his mom could tie them.

"Oh," she laughed for a second, "sweetheart, you put your shirt on backwards."

He looked down and didn't see the picture. "You're right mommy."

"Come here," she pulled him up and the proceeded to pull off his shirt and put it back on him the right way.

"Now we're ready." She said as she slipped her sandals on. "Oh, Kenichi, please go in the room and grab mommy's purse."

"Kay mommy." He ran off to do as she said. That was one of the best things about having a child. You can have them get stuff. Get the remote, close the window, grab the phone; the list goes on and on.

A few seconds later the boy ran over to Kagome with her bag in his hand and handed it to her.

"Thank you Kenichi." She said lovingly.

He beamed up at her. "You're welcome mommy."

"You're such a good helper," she said as she opened the door. Kagome was trying to give lots of positive reinforcement. She couldn't stand when people were always negative towards their kids. No this, no that. Don't do this, don't do that. Of course boundaries and guidelines needed to be set forth. But they would be so quick to call their children out on the bad things and never say a word about the good things.

"Thank you." He smiled, blushing and feeling proud of himself.

* * *

Kagome and Kenichi spent a few hours at the park and then Kagome decided to take him to the local shopping area. It was like an outside mall and all of the nicest stores were there. They also had a couple of restaurants and snack areas. There was a pretty water fountain, and an area with chess tables set out for people to play, as well as a giant chessboard that players could walk on, the pieces reaching a few feet tall. They stopped to check out a clothing store so that Kenichi could get some more summer clothes. The season was just starting and the boy had long outgrown all of his clothes from the year before.

Kagome couldn't believe how fast her son was growing. She still remembered her first ultrasound; he was the size of a fruit. Now here he was, outgrowing all of his clothes. After they left the store, she had Kenichi help her by carrying his bag of new clothes. They left with two pairs of shorts and three cartoon themed t-shirts. The boy loved his cartoons. It was starting to get around dinner time and Kagome still had to go home to cook for her son.

On the walk back to the parking garage, they passed a sports bar at the corner. They had to wait to cross the street, and Kagome saw an advertisement for the UFC. It normally wouldn't bother her. Sure it would bring back memories of the person she did not like to think about, but she would get over it. This time though, there was a rather large picture with Sesshomaru's image plastered all over it; along with some other well known combatants.

She frowned at his face as she and Kenichi crossed the street and headed to her car.

Sesshomaru looked like a smug, arrogant bastard. He was tough, just like all the other's he was featured alongside; nobody could mess with them. She felt angered just by looking at his picture. She didn't know anything about the man besides from what Inuyasha told her when they were younger. He was egoistical and selfish; he rarely would have a girlfriend because he was married to martial arts. He acted like he was superior to most people he met. That's why Kagome had seen him a number of times but never actually talked to him, he was too good to socialize with her.

But he didn't seem so bad when they conceived Kenichi. He was a god in bed. Kagome had been with only a couple of guys since then, but none could compare. Neither in size nor skill. He ruined her for life it seemed.

Kagome wasn't surprised when she learned that he had moved west to further his fighting career. What she knew most about him was that he was passionate about it. To Kagome, it was unfair that he was out on the other side of the country living his dream right now while due to actions that they did _together_, she was the one being held back in life.

Kenichi was the love of Kagome's life; he was her world. She wouldn't trade him for anything and she never regretted her decision to have him. She loved him, and she loved her life but it was a very hard life she was living. Kagome didn't want to be a dancer forever, but the money was great and she wanted to as much for her son as she could. Especially with Sesshomaru living the life of the rich and famous. She would feel even worse if Kenichi had to go without while his father was more than comfortable in the lap of luxury.

Kagome felt very guilty that her son did not have a father. She was a great mom, and she did her best to play both parental roles. But there were things that he would miss out on without his dad, which she could never replace.

She did not regret cutting ties with her family if it meant to provide for her son. She did not regret putting off college to spend time with him. The only regret Kagome had was picking an absentee father for her child.

She dreaded the time when he would be old enough to recognize the similarities between his famous father and himself. Would he hold it against her that he was with the less successful parent of the two? Would he ever get to meet his dad? She hoped that they could someday, but she had no idea on how that would come about, or Sesshomaru's reaction.

Kagome could have never known just how close that fateful day was.

* * *

AN: Review please.


	4. Knock You Down

AN: Thank you all SO so much for the reviews ^_^ I'm glad that I have so many people already into this story and that you guys like my idea. Well here is chapter 4, I hope you all like it!

* * *

"Reina," Louie walked up to Kagome while she was talking to the DJ, "We've got some high rollers walking in."

"Oh really?" she grinned, waiting for more information on the people who could possibly make her night.

"Yep," the older man nodded, "a group of five guys. I took them up to the VIP area; they already got 4 bottles and paid cash."

"Ooh," Kagome said, "thank you." She flashed an award winning smile at the man.

"Go check it out," he told her, "I haven't told anyone else because they just got here. I'm going to send Roxy to them as well. You can grab a couple girls on your way up."

Kagome nodded to her manager and started to walk over to where she knew the men would be. She would find some other dancers to join her, but before that she wanted to see just what she was working with, and try to get first choice on which guy she wanted.

When she reached her destination, she saw only two of the four men sitting on the couches. She noticed that Roxy and her friend were already on her way over. She didn't want to just stand there like a fool and vulture, just waiting for the other men to get there. So Kagome hurried up to the man sitting closest to her and turned at the edge of the couch to drop herself gracefully onto his lap.

She put on her best smile as she turned her head to look at his face.

"Hi, I'm Rrr-" her mouth dropped open and then shut tightly.

Kagome froze as she stared at the man in front of her. They had only met a few times many years ago, but she'd never forget him. How could she not notice that it was him earlier? He had silver hair! She looked at his hair from behind as she walked up to him! It should have been a dead giveaway, but she was just so focused on making money that she must not have made the connection. Well, it was too late now.

"Sessho-" her words caught in her throat. This man. This man right here, she hadn't seen in person in years. Now here she was sitting in his lap, wearing lingerie. Her child's father._ 'Oh god, he looks so much like Kenichi.'_ She hadn't seen Sesshomaru's face in such a long time; maybe in promotional fight posters but not in person. Such similar features to that of her child.

Their child.

Kagome wanted to throw up. She felt like she was about to have a full blown panic attack. She was not prepared to see him. Especially here of all places! No, she was not ready for this.

Sesshomaru was unnerved at her sudden tensing and the way she looked like she'd seen a ghost while staring at him.

'_She seems so familiar.'_ He thought to himself. Maybe that was why she was acting so strangely. This was probably his most awkward strip club experience to date. He'd never had a dancer stop midsentence and just freeze up on him.

When he realized that she wasn't going to say anything, and that she seemed frozen in place on his lap, he decided to bring her back to reality.

He cleared his throat and Kagome visibly flinched.

"Have we met?" he asked smoothly.

"Have we…" impossible as it seemed, Kagome's eyes widened even more with his question. He couldn't even remember who she was, and she couldn't forget him if she tried.

Kagome's head dropped. She gave birth to a child that took after him in almost every way. He couldn't even remember if he'd ever met her or not. To him, she was nothing but another notch on his bed, now just another stripper. To her, he was the blueprint for the face she woke up to every morning that called her mom.

She couldn't do it anymore. This place was _her_ work. If there's one thing she could say about working there for so long it was that she could be comfortable with the customers. And right now, she was feeling very uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry," she said, standing up, "you need to go."

"Excuse me?" Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes. Did this woman not know who he was?

She glared at him. Trying to look angry, anything other than looking hurt. "If you don't want to leave, I'll have someone escort you out."

"Really?" He smirked. Sesshomaru stood up, his height about a head taller than Kagome, even with her 7 inch heels. Nobody would be telling him what to do, and if some stripper figured she had the right to kick him out she could get lost. He was an untouchable MMA fighter, these 'bouncers' she had referred to could try to escort him anywhere. He'd make their day, getting their asses beat by a professional.

Before Kagome and Sesshomaru could continue their budding argument, someone walked up behind her and interrupted.

"Ka- Kagome?"

She didn't have to turn around to know who was talking to her. She knew that voice. Instead of moving, Kagome just stood there, in front of Sesshomaru, staring straight forward as if she could see right through him.

She was in shock. She didn't know what to do, say or how to react. This was too much, she couldn't handle it.

She felt Inuyasha's hand touch her shoulder and with that she bolted off.

It didn't matter to her that she was running away like a coward. What pride did she have left anyways? She was arguing with someone who didn't even know who she was. She was caught working at a strip club. High class or not, most people had their own stereotype of the women working there. Oh and not to mention the fact that she was in a fishnet dress with a thong and bikini top on. It couldn't get any worse.

_'At least they didn't see me topless on stage.'_ She thought as she entered the dressing room.

Kagome made a beeline towards her locker. She was going home. She didn't care what time it was, she was done for the night. Once all of her clothes were on, Kagome slammed her locker shut and speed walked all the way through the club until she was at the entrance.

"Kari," she said to the door girl, "I need to be walked out." She was tempted to just leave but it was a safety precaution and she could lose her job for not being escorted to her car.

"Did you ask Louie if you could leave?"

"Whatever," Kagome fumed, "call Louie down here; right now."

Kari did as she was told and within a few of the longest minutes of Kagome's life, Louie walked into the foyer.

"Reina," he frowned taking in her appearance. Gone was her work outfit, it was replaced with a tank, yoga pants, and sandals. "What's going on?"

"I already tipped everyone out earlier." Kagome said. "I need to go home. Now."

"It's an emergency," she added, desperately.

Her manager studied her face for a moment. She had done a complete 360 since not even ten minutes past.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha was walking down the large spiral staircase as he called out to her. "Can you chill out for a second and talk to me?"

"You didn't want to talk to me last time I saw you Inuyasha," she sent a cold glare his way, "I have nothing more to say to you."

Then Kagome turned to her manager, ready to say 'fuck it' and just leave even if it cost her job.

"Alright," he said, watching her get ready to explode, "I'll walk you out."

She nodded and hurried out the door, leaving the older man rushing to follow her.

"Was he giving you problems? I can make him leave."

"It's fine, he didn't do anything!" She yelled back.

"You gonna tell me what all that was about then?" he asked her as she opened her car door.

"Nope!" She got in her car and closed the door. Seconds later she sped out of the parking lot.

* * *

_The next afternoon._

The phone was ringing at the Higurashi household as Kagome's mother was washing dishes. Rita dried her hands on a towel as she reached over to answer.

"Hello?"

"Hi," nervous voice responded, "is Kagome there?"

"No she isn't…" she answered, a bit confused. It had been a few years since anyone had called asking for her daughter.

"Oh," the man sounded disappointed, "can you tell me when she will be home?"

"I'm sorry," her eyebrows furrowed, "but Kagome hasn't lived here for years. Who is this?"

She heard the man's breath hitch. "It's Inuyasha Taka-."

"Inuyasha." Rita's eyes narrowed. "Don't call this number again. You and your family have done enough to my family."

She ended the conversation by hanging up the phone.

The woman let out a deep breath. Her heart reaching out to her daughter. Kagome had been such a good girl growing up. She got good grades and even had a scholarship to a far away university. Rita was more then let down when Kagome had told her that she was pregnant not even a month before she should have left for college. How could Kagome have been so irresponsible? Rita could barely believe it when Kagome gave her the father's identity. Sesshomaru Takahashi. The older brother of Kagome's high school crush. Rita didn't even ask for the details on how that happened. She didn't want to know.

When she had offered to go with Kagome to tell the man about what he and her daughter had done, the women learned that the Takahashi family had bought another house in a different state to broaden the sons' MMA careers. They still owned the large house but it was just another one of their properties. There was no way to know when they would be there or not.

So then she had to go through the heartbreak of watching her daughter drop out of college before even starting, so that she could be a single mother.

The family struggled at first. Kagome worked at the family flower shop during the day. Unfortunately, they weren't making enough money for ends to meet. So Kagome took a second job as a waitress at a diner. Rita did not know when or how, but eventually Kagome became a stripper. She covered it up by lying; saying that she was at the diner when she was not.

To this day, Rita wouldn't be able to explain her feelings when she discovered Kagome's secret life. She narrowed it down to a mix between disgust, disappointment, betrayal, and anger. What Kagome had been doing was unacceptable. So she gave the girl an ultimatum. As long as Kagome was living in her mother's home, she was not allowed to dance. She needed to quit immediately.

Her plan had backfired on her though. That was the last day Mrs. Higurashi saw her daughter and grandson.

* * *

Inuyasha stared at his phone as the brief conversation he had with Kagome's mom replayed in his head over and over again. He was sitting in the living room of his parents' home.

"What did my family do?" he asked out loud to himself.

Did he really hurt Kagome's feelings that bad? He knew that she had a crush on him, and so he was naturally upset when Sesshomaru slept with her. _'Was she still mad at me? For being mad at her?'_

The sound of the patio door opening brought him out of his thoughts. It was Sesshomaru. His feeling of jealousy and anger came back. He hadn't thought about what Sesshomaru did with Kagome for years.

"Hey asshole." He called out to his brother.

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes. "Watch who you're talking to."

"I need your help." Inuyasha stood up as a plan formed in his head.

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes. "And what makes you think I'd do anything for you?" Typical Inuyasha, insult someone and then ask them for help.

"Because," Inuyasha pointed his thumb to his chest, "you owe me."

"I owe you?"

"Yeah. So we need to go." Inuyasha turned to leave the room.

"I'm not going anywhere."

Inuyasha realized that even though this was all probably Sesshomaru's fault, he wasn't going to help him unless he asked nicely. He didn't want to do it, he didn't want to say it, but he had to. There was something about the way Kagome reacted when she saw them. He'd never seen someone look at him that way. He needed to know what she was doing in a strip club. Sure he was there too, but it's a completely different thing to have a guy's night and to be a stripper. Kagome was such a good girl; she shouldn't have been in a place like that. He just had to get to the bottom of it. Something was just nagging at him to figure out why.

He took a deep breath before pursing his lips together.

"Please?"

"Really?" Sesshomaru smirked. "Is it that important?"

Inuyasha bit his lip from making the smart retort that was on the tip of his tongue.

"I was going to do some lifting." Sesshomaru sighed. "I suppose I could put it off for a little bit."

Inuyasha still fought himself, not liking being nice to his brother.

"Alright," the elder said, "let's go."

Inuyasha nodded his head and the brothers silently made their way into his car.

"So are you going to tell me where we are going?" Sesshomaru asked while staring out the window, looking bored.

"Back to The Jewel," he bit out.

Sesshomaru frowned. "Why are we going to a strip club in the middle of the day?"

"Do you remember that girl who was acting all crazy?"

Sesshomaru almost laughed at the memory of the woman's bizarre antics. "Trust me, I'd never forget her."

"Do you remember her from before last night?"

"Should I?"

"Yeah," Inuyasha's fingers squeezed the steering wheel, "she's the girl you _fucked_ at my graduation party. Kagome? She was supposed to be _my_ friend."

The car was silent besides the rock music on low.

Inuyasha continued. "Well I need to figure out how to get a hold of her."

"Okay," Sesshomaru said, uninterested, "I still don't see my part in all of this."

Inuyasha growled. "Because it's your fault we aren't friends anymore!"

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes. Seriously, Inuyasha was the only person who had the nerve to talk to him like that. He was half tempted to find out what was so important about the girl, but he couldn't have cared less.

The brothers made it to the strip club and Sesshomaru followed Inuyasha, wondering what his plan was.

As they walked inside the door girl looked up from her phone to greet them.

"Hello," she smiled, before her mouth dropped open when she recognized who was standing in front of her. "Oh my god, I know you!" She pointed to Sesshomaru. "You're Sesshomaru Takahashi, from TV."

Sesshomaru smirked. "That's me."

"I've seen a couple of your fights." The girl would have been drooling if she could have looked any more infatuated. She tilted her head and batted her lashes. "You're so great."

"Thank you." He flashed a sexy smile.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. Well, at least his plan was working. He couldn't wait to become well known so that he could do this type of thing on his own.

"Listen," the younger man asked with his nicest tone of voice, "do you know Kagome, who works here?"

The girl was snapped out of her trance and turned her head to the man speaking to her.

"Kagome?"

"Black hair, blue eyes, about this tall." He held his hand up to where he remembered her height to be. "She was working last night. She's really nice," he added, hoping that was still true and that it would help.

"Ohh." The girls eyes lit up, "Reina?"

'_Fuck_,' Inuyasha thought, he didn't know her stage name.

Sesshomaru spoke up. "It did start with an R." He never was given her whole name since she stopped talking after the first syllable.

"Well," the girl turned to him with a smile, "that is the only girl with blue eyes whose name starts with an R."

Inuyasha made an appreciative face towards his brother. He was glad he asked him to come.

"Great." Inuyasha said. "Do you happen to know how I can contact her?"

"Oh," she frowned, "I'm sorry, I can't do that. It's against policy, I could lose my job."

Sesshomaru, being the awesome big brother that he was decided that if he was going to help his younger brother, this was the time.

"Listen," he stepped up to the counter, "it's important that we have her information. What's your name?"

"It's Kari."

"Kari," he flashed his smile, "that's a lovely name."

She blushed. "Thank you."

"Anyways, Kari," he let her name roll off his tongue, seductively, "what do I need to do for you to tell my brother what he wants to know."

He looked right into her eyes, as if he could hypnotize her. He could see the wheels turning in her head before she blushed again.

"Well," she said, giggling, "I do have her phone number."

He nodded, slowly. "It would mean so much to me if we could have it."

"Okay," Kari bit her bottom lip, trying to hide her grin. She was under his spell. "I'll give you her number."

He smirked.

"But it wouldn't be fair for me to give you a number and get nothing in return."

"I agree," his eyes smoldered, "maybe we could trade. Give my brother her number, and I'll give you mine."

Her smile widened. "Deal!" Kari picked her phone off of the counter and searched for the right number. "Here it is." She handed the device to Sesshomaru. He made sure to let his fingers run along her hand as he took the phone from her.

He showed the screen to Inuyasha, who typed the number into his own phone.

Once he was done, Sesshomaru added himself into her contact list. "Thank you." He said handing the phone back to her.

"No," she blushed, "thank you."

"I'll be busy for the rest of the day," he added, "but you'll call me tomorrow, right?"

She nodded, eagerly.

"Great." He said.

"Thanks, Kari." Inuyasha told her.

The brothers walked out of the club and hurried into the car.

Inuyasha glanced at the cell in his hand before looking at his older brother.

"Thanks man." He said honestly.

"No problem." Sesshomaru smirked. "It was entertaining."

"So," Inuyasha's lip turned upwards, "you didn't actually give her your number, did you?"

"Of course not." Sesshomaru looked out of the window to view the scenery they passed. "I gave her yours."

* * *

AN: Thanks for reading, please leave a review on your thoughts :)


	5. Bruises

AN: Thank you for the reviews! They made me rush to update, only took 4 days. I hope this chapter clears up any questions some readers may have about Inuyasha's intentions. Enjoy :)

* * *

Kagome tucked Kenichi in his racecar bed and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"Night mommy." He said, with a yawn.

"Good night sweetie."

She then walked out of the room and turned off the light, closing the door behind her as well. Kagome went into the living room where her best friend was waiting for her.

Sango sat on the couch with her arms crossed and watched Kagome walk over to sit on the other end. Kagome clasped her hands together and looked away.

"Okay," Sango said, "what's going on." Kagome had been acting strange all day. When she and Kenichi got home from their day out Sango had asked her about it, but Kagome told her to wait till the boy was asleep so they could talk.

Kagome sighed. "I saw him, last night."

Sango's head tilted. "Who?"

Kagome glanced back towards the direction of the bedrooms to make sure that her son wasn't listening. Then she turned to her friend and said it.

"I saw Sesshomaru at Jewel."

Sango's mouth dropped. "What?" She need all the details; STAT.

"My manager told me about some men with money coming in, and I hurried to get to one. I sat in the guys lap and looked up to face my baby's daddy." She covered her hands with her face.

"Oh my god." Sango looked concerned. "So then what happened?"

"I freaked out!" Kagome grabbed her friend's upper arms and would have shaken her if she wasn't so strong. "First I froze up, but then the bastard asked me if I knew him!"

"No," Sango said, pulling Kagome's hands off of her, "you're kidding me!"

"Nope," Kagome shook her head, her face turning pink, "so I told him to leave and then… and then Inuyasha came up behind me."

"He was there too?"

"Yeah, so then I just ran."

"You ran?"

"I did." Kagome nodded. "I ran all the way to the dressing room."

They both started laughing, imagining just how crazy Kagome must have looked doing so.

"So anyways," Kagome began, "I got to the dressing room, hurried up and changed into my real clothes, and then I went home early."

"Wow." Sango responded. "I can't believe it."

"I know." Kagome frowned.

"Now what are you going to do?" She was always good at asking the hard questions.

"I don't know." Kagome sighed and covered her face with her hands. "I have no idea!" she said, exasperated.

"Well what do you want to do?"

"Hide under a rock until he goes back to wherever he came from?" She replied with a nervous smile.

"Uh huh." Sango eyed her, "and what do you think is best for Kenichi?"

Kagome glared at her friend. Sango was too wise.

Kagome was scared. Kenichi was _her_ child. She did everything for him; it was Kagome and Kenichi. As far as she was concerned, there was no room for Sesshomaru in the family. What would change? Would Sesshomaru reject the child? There was no denying it was his, he couldn't if he tried; Kenichi looked just like him. How would Kenichi react to finally meeting his father and being rejected? Or even more, what if Sesshomaru wanted to be involved? Then what? Sesshomaru lived thousands of miles away as far as she knew. Would he try to have joint custody? Or worse! Would Sesshomaru try to take Kenichi away from Kagome? He was successful in life and could give him more in a financial sense, but he could never love him as much as Kagome did!

Sango saw the wheels turning in her friends mind and imagined the chaos going on in there.

"Kagome!" she grabbed her friends hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

Kagome was brought back from her frightening thoughts and looked at her friend with tears in her eyes.

"Sango what if-"

"Shh." Sango held her hand up. "You don't know what's going to happen. I don't either, but Kenichi has a right to know who his dad is."

"Ugh," the single mother groaned, "you're right."

"Don't worry," Sango pulled her friend in for a hug, "I've got your back."

"Thanks." Kagome hugged her friend, more like sister. "So now what do I do? Show up to the house that I'm pretty sure he's staying at with a child holding my hand?"

Sango smiled. "That's a good idea."

Kagome's phone started to ring; she looked at the caller identification and didn't recognize the number.

"If you wait till the weekend, I'll go with you."

Kagome smiled at how helpful and supportive her friend was. She swiped to answer her phone, curious as to who was calling.

"Hello?"

"…Kagome?"

Kagome's eyes widened as she recognized the voice.

"Inu- Inuyasha?" he voice shook and she heard Sango gasp.

"Yeah, it's me."

Kagome didn't know what to say. "How did you get my number?" She switched her phone to speaker so that Sango, who was now leaning close to her, could hear.

"I don't want to get into that, can we talk? Please?"

Kagome frowned wanting to say no, but Sango's hand on her wrist stopped her.

She let out a breath. "Sure."

"Great." His voice seemed a bit more cheery. "Do you think, maybe, we could meet up? Grab a drink or something?"

Sango nodded her head vigorously.

"I guess we could," she answered hesitantly.

"How about right now? It's only 9 o'clock."

"Go." Sango whispered. "I'll babysit."

Kagome made a face towards Sango. She made Kagome do things that were out of her comfort zone.

"That's fine, Inuyasha." She tried to think of a well populated bar that wasn't far. "Meet me at the Winking Dragon?"

"How soon can you be there? If I leave now it'll be ten minutes."

"Be there in a fifteen."

"Okay." He said. "Thank you."

Kagome nodded, not realizing that he couldn't see her. She then hung up the phone and turned towards her best friend.

"Wow." Sango breathed, staring at the phone in Kagome's hand. "That was weird." What a coincidence that the girls were having a conversation about Kenichi meeting his father and his uncle calls on the phone.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you had something to do with it." Kagome shook her head and smiled.

"If I had anything to do with that, it would be Sesshomaru calling you. Not Inuyasha." Sango smirked. "Now go get ready."

* * *

Kagome sat in her car, staring into the entrance of the bar she was supposed to meet Inuyasha at. Half of her wanted to run away and lie to Sango, saying that Inuyasha changed his mind. The other half knew that she needed to reach out to him. Not to Inuyasha exactly, but he was the key to Kenichi meeting his dad.

She slowly got out, and walked inside of the bar. Her eyes landed on Inuyasha sitting at a table in the back. He had a drink in his hand and was doing something on his phone.

Kagome sat down across from him. Inuyasha looked up at her and gulped.

"Kagome." He said taking her appearance in. She looked beautiful. She was always pretty but the last few years seemed to be good to her.

"Hi." Kagome replied anxiously.

"Uh," he stood up, "let me get you a drink. What do you want?"

"I'm fine."

"No." He shook his head. "I insist."

"Well," she bit her lip, "I guess I'll have a screwdriver."

"Okay."

"Can you tell them to add grenadine?"

Inuyasha beamed. "You got it."

He was back in a matter of minutes with drink in hand.

"Here you go." He said, placing the concoction on the table in front of her.

She thanked him and took a sip. It was strong, but good.

Inuyasha took his seat in front of her and both parties stared at their drinks. Neither of them knew where to start.

"So," Kagome was the one to break their silence, "you wanted to talk?"

"Yeah... I just..." he struggled for words. He had many questions and didn't know which ones to ask or what order to ask them in. Not only that but seeing her brought up some guilt from the past. "I called your moms house today."

Kagome's breath hitched. What did her mother reveal to him?

"She said you haven't lived there for years. Then she yelled at me and told me never to call again."

Kagome let out the breath she was holding in.

"I know we were great friends in high school. I'm sorry I took advantage of your kindness and yelled at you. I was just so jealous when I found out about you and him." He didn't say the name; they both knew exactly who he was referring to.

"You were jealous," she said angrily. "How do you think I felt watching you with Kikyo all the time?"

"I know." He continued. "I was going to apologize for exploding on you when I realized what a hypocrite I was but then we moved and I just felt so bad about how I reacted so I never said anything." He figured that she would move on with her life, just as he had. That she was still upset about it surprised him and made him feel terrible.

Kagome stayed silent. Listening intently.

"I had no idea you'd still be mad about it this many years later."

"Listen," she stopped him, "I got over it. You were an immature eighteen year old boy. You liked to think with the wrong head and Kikyo was a slut. Of course you'd keep going back to her, I get it now. Okay?"

"Then why wouldn't you talk to me last night?" he questioned. "You specifically brought up that day as the reason you wouldn't talk to me so-"

"I just wasn't feeling right! I didn't want to talk and that was a good way to shut you up." She replied, cutting him off.

"What?" Inuyasha shrunk in his chair. When had Kagome become so cold?

Kagome knew that Inuyasha had a lot more to say so she chose to remain silent and let him speak whenever he was ready. She wanted to put off Kenichi as long as possible for the night.

"Okay." He trailed off, the next question forming in his head. "So you're a stripper now?"

"Obviously."

"Right," he shook his head, "but why?"

Kagome lifted her cup and took a small sip of her drink before responding. "For money."

"Yeah, I get that." He said, clearly annoyed. She knew damn well what he meant. "I'm trying to figure out why such a good girl like Kagome Higurashi would end up working at a strip club. I mean, Kikyo I could see being a stripper. Maybe Sango because she could be ruthless. But you?" He held his hand out to her. "The Kagome I know would have died before she did anything as degrading as that."

"Excuse me?" She started to get offended.

"You're getting naked, shaking your ass for money. You grind on guys dicks all night long. What kind of shit is that?"

"Oh please," she scoffed, "if it's such a bad place to be then why were you there in the first place then?"

"Because I'm a guy!" he raised his voice and stood up. Then his eyes widened. "I'm sorry." He sat back down. "I didn't want to make this turn into an argument."

"Well good job." She glared.

He sighed and looked away.

They went back into their awkward silence. That's when Kagome decided it was time to let out a little information. The whole time she got ready, and the whole drive there she tried to figure out the words to say to him. But none came.

"Inuyasha," she said resting her hand on his forearm, "it's not the best job in the world. But it's the best and easiest money I can make without a college degree and no other skills."

"I see." Once she opened up he felt a bit more relaxed. "I thought you had that scholarship?"

"I know." Kagome looked away with a frown. "I ended losing it. I had some family stuff happen and I had to put college off for a bit."

Inuyasha looked at her concerned and confused. What the hell was he missing?

She saw his facial expression and sighed. '_Oh, I don't know what to say!'_

"Yash," she used his old nickname, "I uh, I had a baby." She stumbled over her words. "I had a baby, and that's what kept me from going to school." She pressed her lips together. "Me getting pregnant, I couldn't go off to college…" She trailed off, not knowing what more to add.

Inuyasha looked into the distance as he let the words soak in. He felt a small pang of jealousy in his heart. Kagome was one of the most amazing girls he'd ever met in his life, and some lucky guy got to have a child with her. Did he want to be with her? What guy wouldn't? He would not pursue her, but he was no longer blind to noticing a good thing when he sees it.

"Wow…I don't know what to say." He really didn't. Then a thought came to him and he turned his lip into a sneer. "So what kind of job does this guy have that you have to do what you're doing?"

She let out a laugh. If only he knew. "We're not together."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I live with Sango now. She's my babydaddy now." Kagome joked with a smile.

"Damn," Inuyasha's face lit up, "I remember her. You guys are still friends?"

"More like sisters."

"Does she still talk to Miroku? We used to be such good friends; I don't talk to anyone from high school anymore."

"Yes." Kagome nodded, smiling. "They've been engaged for a while now, but they're putting of the actual marriage until he finishes school."

"That's great," he said, "what about Sango?"

The two were in much better moods now that they could reminisce.

"Well," she started, "Sango and I moved in together once I left my moms. And she's going to the community college right now. She works at a gym and plans on opening her own one day."

"Nice." Inuyasha nodded. "What about you?" He wanted to know more about his long lost friend.

Kagome flinched, but he didn't notice. "You first," she deflected, "what's going on in your life."

"Yeah," he tilted his head, noticing her subject change, "well, I've just been focusing on MMA. I train every day, my main goal is to be number one. I want to be a champion."

Kagome smiled. "That's awesome."

"I can't wait till the day I go in the octagon against Sesshomaru and beat him on national television."

They both shared a laugh for a moment. Kagome's was a nervous laugh but Inuyasha couldn't tell. The two spent the next hour or so just catching up, reminiscing, and talking about random things.

After they'd each had a few drinks, courtesy of Inuyasha, Kagome felt comfortable enough to do what she'd been putting off all night. The liquid courage giving her enough confidence to go above and beyond just telling him about Kenichi.

"Inuyasha," she said as he came back with another round of drinks, "do you want to meet me son?"

"What?" he looked at her incredulously.

"Well, he's asleep, but we can hang out with Sango."

"You know what?" he said, "yeah. It'd be fun to see her and to see your son."

"Cool," she held up her drink, "well, let's down these and get going."

"Bet I'll finish my drink first."

"Oh gosh," she laughed, "you're dumb. I'm not racing."

Inuyasha brought his drink to his lips with a twinkle in his eye. Kagome was not competing against him, but she did drink as quickly as she could.

"Ah," Inuyasha said, slamming the empty class on the table, "I win."

"Shut up," Kagome rolled her eyes, not bothering to finish her drink. "I wasn't playing your game."

"Mhmm." He was grinning by now.

"Let's go." She stood up. "You can follow me back."

"Are you good to drive?"

"I'm fine," she waved him off, "Just a little tipsy, but my place isn't far from here, it's about a five minute drive max."

"Oh," he nodded. "Sweet."

* * *

They made it back to Kagome's apartment safely and parked near each other. The walk inside the building and to her door was silent. Inuyasha was excited to see Sango and hang out with old friends, plus seeing Kagome's kid would be alright. Kagome, on the other hand, was starting to feel a bit more nervous. The alcohols effect on her was wearing off and she realized exactly what she was doing.

Kagome didn't bother using her keys, but knocked on the door for Sango to open. She knew the woman would still be up.

Sango opened the door and her eyes almost bulged out of her head when she saw who was standing behind Kagome.

"Inuyasha," she said, "this is a surprise." Then she cast a questioning look towards her roommate.

"Hey Sango," Inuyasha said, unaware at the tension coming from both girls. "It's really good to see you."

"Yeah," she smiled, trying not to be rude. Inuyasha was her friend after all; they just grew apart when he moved away.

Sango stepped back to let the other two in and closed the door behind them. She didn't know what Kagome had planned but she was going to observe for the most part.

The three stood in the living room and an awkward silence overcame them.

"Well." Inuyasha bent his arm behind his head and scratched the back of his neck nervously.

When Kagome made no move to do anything Sango changed her mind about just staying silent.

"I guess you'll want to meet your ne-" she was cut off by Kagome.

"Your new friend, Kenichi!" she said quickly. "That's his name."

Sango then realized that Inuyasha was unaware of his relation to the child. '_Just what did these two talk about for the last hour?'_

Inuyasha noticed the strange behavior and became confused. Something wasn't right, but he didn't know what.

"So?" he turned to Kagome.

"Right," she hesitated, but then nodded, "this way."

He followed her to the room as Sango kept her eye on them from the living room.

Kagome stood in front of the door, her hand was on the knob, but she couldn't turn it. She was scared. She had no idea how Inuyasha would react.

_'It's too late to change your mind,'_ she thought to herself, _'no turning back now.'_

Kagome opened the door and stepped in. The room was dark but the light from the hallway would suffice for Inuyasha to see Kenichi.

Inuyasha followed Kagome in slowly and was surprised to see a racecar bed in the far corner of the room; he expected to see a crib. Kagome said she had a baby so he thought that she meant recently. He tried to be quiet as he walked over, not wanting to wake the child up. He couldn't see very well but his eyes slowly adjusted and with the help of the light coming from the hallway he was able to get a good look at the boy.

'_He looks like… but we never… so that means…'_

He was brought to his knees as his brain put two and two together.

* * *

AN: ^_^ someone knows! haha review please


	6. Black Tears

AN: Thank you so much for all the reviews you guys! They make me so happy and encourage me to do my best on this story. I ask that you all continue to keep reviewing and giving me your thoughts and/or questions. I usually have the next chapter ready and I use your feedback to make changes before I post it just to make sure I have everything I need in the chapter. Anyways, this chapter is about 500 words longer just because of the reviews making me add some more things in. Also, I was going to wait a couple days to post this chapter but when I saw how many people reviewed I figured that I had to update! I hope everyone is satisfied with Inuyasha's reaction... Please enjoy this next chapter, it's full of lots of important stuff that would answer (I'm sure many) questions that you all may have had throughout the story so far.

* * *

Inuyasha couldn't believe it, and yet here it was in his face. This child was undeniably his older brother's. Now it made sense to him. The timing with Kagome losing her scholarship. The boy must have been young when Kagome left her mother's house. Kagome being a single mother because her child's father was not there. This was the reason they hadn't gone into depth about Kagome's last few years.

Inuyasha felt a hand on his shoulder; he knew it was Kagome's. He just couldn't take his eyes off the little boy who looked just like Sesshomaru. This kid was a few years old, why had Kagome never said anything? If he hadn't have reached out would he have ever known?

Kagome cleared her throat, just loud enough to bring Inuyasha out of his musings. He took a deep breath and picked himself up off the floor. He kept his head low; he couldn't look her in the eye right now, and marched into her living room.

Sango was standing there with her arms crossed and an apologetic look on her face. _'No wonder she was so surprised to see me.'_ He thought glumly.

"Yash," she put her hand on his bicep as he sat down on the couch, "did you want some tea? I just finished heating up the water."

He nodded, unable to form a coherent sentence. For the first time in his whole life Inuyasha was speechless. The only thing running through his head was that Kagome had a baby with his brother.

Kagome entered the room as Sango left to the kitchen.

"So," she sat down on the loveseat and brought her legs to her chest, resting her chin on her knees, "I'm sure you have questions."

He sure did. He had about a million questions.

"…Do- does he know?" It was possible that Sesshomaru knew about it and left to pursue his dreams, never telling the family. It seemed uncharacteristic for him to be _that_ heartless but Inuyasha was beginning to realize that anything was possible and to expect the unexpected.

"No," she answered in a soft voice, "you guys moved before I found out. I went with my mother to your house to tell him but it was too late."

Inuyasha nodded. It brought him some comfort that Sesshomaru didn't just abandon them, but he felt bad that she tried to and they were already gone. "Ugh, fuck," he groaned, "I think I'm gonna throw up." He grabbed his abdomen and squeezed his shirt.

Kagome fought back the temptation to roll her eyes. "You'll be fine."

"Right," Inuyasha shook his head. "You started dancing to support him?" For the first time, he referred to it as dancing instead of stripping; for that Kagome was grateful. It was amazing how the motives behind her work determine how people look at her for doing it.

"Yes," she sighed, "at first I lived with my mom, but the bills were piling up. Kenichi was born premature and had some health things early in life. It was very expensive and the money I was making at the flower shop and diner wasn't enough. One of my regular customers was the manager at the club. He told me about the opportunity to make a lot of money, so I took it."

"Okay, so why did you leave your moms if money was so bad you had to do _that._"

Sango had entered the room to give Inuyasha his tea. He thanked her and she told the two that she was going to bed.

Kagome continued their conversation.

"I didn't really have a choice." She looked away, sadly. "When mama found out what I had been doing, she gave me an ultimatum. To continue dancing and leave or to quit and stay. But I was finally making enough money to pay his bills on time and provide for him. I couldn't afford to quit just yet, Kenichi still had a lot of upcoming doctor visits. So I left. Mama and I haven't spoken since that day."

"Where did you go?"

"I stayed at Sango's," she explained. "She still lived at her parent's house. Sango would babysit for me while I went to work. It was easy because he slept through the night. I worked almost every night for a couple of weeks until I had enough money to get my own place."

Inuyasha nodded, interested in her story.

"When I let Sango know my intentions she told me that she had some money saved up from her new job at the gym. Then she brought up the idea of us being roommates. She would still be able to babysit at night, and she was my best friend anyways so why wouldn't I say yes?

We moved into a two bedroom apartment in a ghetto neighborhood." Kagome shook her head and smiled at the memory. "Once our lease was up a year later we got out as fast as we could and moved here. Been here ever since."

"Wow." Inuyasha said.

"Yeah, I haven't spoken with my mother since she kicked me out. She doesn't have my number and she hasn't seen Kenichi since we left."

"What about at family events?" That's why Inuyasha was even in town; his aunt's birthday celebration.

"No," Kagome shrugged her shoulders and looked away. "Nobody has reached out to me. Just because she doesn't have my number doesn't mean I'm hard to find."

"Fuck." Inuyasha shook his head. "Now I understand why she said what she did today."

Kagome looked up, forgetting what it was.

"She said that my family and I have done enough to yours. I wondered what my family did. Now I see; my brother knocked you up and then we left town."

Inuyasha put his hand on his forehead, rubbing his temples. His head hurt; information overload.

He asked his next question.

"So… his health issues?"

Kagome actually smiled. "They're gone now."

Inuyasha felt a bit relieved at this, he would never forgive Sesshomaru if the boy still had health problems and Kagome was doing it all by herself.

"When I saw your brother at work the other night," she started, "he didn't recognize me."

Inuyasha looked up at Kagome; her eyes were glistening with tears.

"Don't you think that's funny?" she asked him as one dropped.

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow.

"He forgot about me. You saw who's in my room. Do you think I'd ever forget about Sesshomaru? I can't even imagine such a luxury. His mini-me wakes me up every morning."

"I'm sorry Kagome." His previous feelings of hurt were fading when he realized how hard things must have been for her. They were being replaced by guilt. "Now I feel even worse for acting the way I did years ago. Maybe if I would have been more understanding this could have been avoided."

"Its fine, Yash. This is mine and Sesshomaru's fault."

The man's name put a bad taste in his mouth. He frowned. "I have to know," he started, "how did it even happen?"

"What do you mean?"

"I never talked to Sesshomaru about it. We got in a couple fist fights over it, usually I started them." he shook his head for the millionth time. "I'm just trying to figure out how you even slept with him. Did he… take advantage of you?"

"No." Kagome shook her head vigorously. "He didn't. I saw you with Kikyo and I was so jealous. We talked for a minute and I don't know; he kissed me. I was so angry at you… it was nice that someone actually wanted to kiss me. So I didn't stop him. One thing led to another and eight months later I had Kenichi."

"You had a baby with my brother." He set his cup of tea down on the coffee table, running his hands through his hair. Maybe if he said it enough, it wouldn't seem so unreal.

"You're taking this a lot better than I expected."

"Yeah," Inuyasha sighed for the umpteenth time. "I've grown up a lot in the last few years. I've learned to control my temper and emotions."

"I can see that." She smiled.

"When I'm fighting somebody, I need to stay focused." He explained, "even if they hurt me I can't let my emotions control me. Or else I'll get sloppy and lose."

"I see. You really are a lot more mature."

"Well it has been three years." He smirked. Of course he'd be more mature after such a long time.

"I wish you were like this before," she smiled softly; "you probably would have realized how bad Kikyo was for you way back."

"Very funny." He rolled his eyes.

The two sat in a comfortable silence. Both just thinking.

Inuyasha frowned. "You know I cared about you, right?"

Kagome smiled and got up from the loveseat to sit on the sofa beside Inuyasha. She wrapped an arm around his neck and leaned in. "I know."

Inuyasha turned more towards her and wrapped her in a hug.

"That's why it hurt so much when you suddenly stopped caring," she sniffled, "after you found out what happened."

Her unshed tears finally fell and soon enough she started sobbing.

"It's okay Kagome." He rubbed circles on her back. "Please don't cry. I'm so sorry."

She continued, unable to stop. Inuyasha didn't know what to do. He usually avoided crying women; comfort wasn't really his forte. He decided that the safest path would be to just hold onto her while she let it out.

Once she finally calmed down, Inuyasha continued to hold onto her, giving her the support she deserved from him, and had been missing out on.

Kagome pulled back from him and wiped her face off with the back of her hands. "I'm sorry. This is embarrassing. I'm such a crybaby."

"Its fine," he assured her, "I'm embarrassed too, if it helps."

Kagome cracked a smile. "What are you embarrassed about?"

"You know I hate when girls cry." He eyed her.

She broke into a grin. "How could I forget?"

"So," he asked the million dollar question, "how do you plan on telling Sesshomaru?"

Kagome sighed. All the mirth from moments ago was gone.

"I don't know." She looked up at him with wide eyes. "Inuyasha, I don't even know the guy."

He snorted. "You don't want to."

"Thanks," Kagome glared. "That helps."

"Sorry."

"You do know him better than I do..." she trailed off.

An eyebrow rose. "Yeah, so?"

"What do you think I should do?" she asked him desperately.

"How the hell should I know?"

"Well," Kagome fell back onto the couch, frustrated, "should I just show up at your guys' house tomorrow with a baby and reintroduce myself to him?  
Hi I'm Kagome, we got drunk and hooked up one time, and this is your son.  
Does that sound about right?" She crossed her arms looking at him.

"Alright," he put his hands up, "I get it."

"Not as easy as it sounds."

"Look," He glanced at his calendar in his phone, "we are leaving in a week. So you have until then to tell him."

"I'll figure something out."

"Well," Inuyasha stood up, "you have my number. Call me anytime. I really hope to see you and the kid tomorrow though."

Kagome nodded and also moved to stand.

They walked over to the door and hugged goodbye as Inuyasha left.

* * *

"Mommy."

Kagome sighed as she started to wake up. "Hm?"

"Mommy, wake up."

"Mm," she sat up and stretched, "I'm up."

"Good. I hungy."

"Okay," Kagome turned to get out of the bed and stood up, yarning, "what did you want for breakfast?"

"Pancakes!" The little boy flew out of the room with his mother following behind, not as fast though.

"Alright, sweetie," she said as he turned the TV on, "did you want blueberries or chocolate chips?"

"Chocolate!" he answered excitedly.

She smiled at her son. '_Why did I even ask? He's never once chosen the berries._'

Kagome made the boy his pancakes and after they ate she gave him a bath. When he was dressed and ready for the day Kagome got herself ready.

Today was the day. She didn't know exactly how to introduce Sesshomaru to Kenichi, but Inuyasha took it better than expected. So maybe Sesshomaru wouldn't be too dreadful to deal with either. She thought about it for most of the night and figured that showing up on his doorstep might be the best thing to do. It's not like she could meet him for a random lunch date and drop the news on him. Why would he care about anything she would have to say? No, she'd have to just do it the stressful and uncertain way. There was a chance he could slam the door in her face. But now that she had Inuyasha on her side, she wouldn't have to worry too much about that.

Kagome wanted to look her best. She had some damage control to do since his most recent memory of her was that nightmare at the strip club. He probably had already formed the worst opinions of her from that night.

_'What's worse than having a crazy stripper show up on your doorstep with a child that's apparently yours?'_

She laughed at her own thoughts.

Kagome looked at her reflection in her full length mirror, making sure that she looked good enough. She was wearing a pair of tight jeans and a sheer white blouse with a teal tank top underneath. Her hair was loose and wavy. She put on a pretty teal bracelet and then grabbed a pair of white sandals.

Her makeup was done lightly, she wore mascara and lip gloss.

Then she grabbed Kenichi's shoes and walked out into the living room to put them on his feet.

"Okay love; let's put your shoes on." The boy ran over to the couch and sat down with his feet sticking up for her.

"Mommy, what's my pwize?" he asked as she finished tying his shoes.

"Surprise." She corrected. "I'm taking you to meet someone very important." She held the door open and he walked out in front of her.

"Who?"

"You'll see when we get there." She didn't want to say his dad just in case things didn't go well. He could always meet his uncle though as a backup. That was as far as her plan was. She was pretty much going to wing it.

They got into the car and she buckled the boy into his car seat. Once secured, Kagome got in herself. She started to drive somewhere she didn't expect herself to go for many years; the Takahashi residence.

* * *

Inuyasha and Sesshomaru were sparring in their home gym when the younger brother's phone started ringing. Inuyasha was too busy to answer though. The guys continued practicing as their father, Toga, supervised to give criticism. The phone rang again. They ignored it again. This happened two more times before Toga was fed up.

"Let's take a few minutes." The man's voice exuded annoyance. "Inuyasha put your phone on silent."

"Sorry dad." He ran over to the chair it was sitting on when he saw that it was Kagome calling. He also had a few texts as well. Before he was able to open the window and read the messages, she called again. He answered it.

"Hello?"

"Inuyasha!"

That was not Kagome's voice he heard. "Who is this?"

"It's Sango." She didn't sound so good. Why was she blowing his phone up?

"What's going on?" he asked with worry in his voice.

He could hear her crying. "There was an accident!"

"What!?" Inuyasha yelled into the phone, causing his brother and father to look at him strangely.

"Kagome and Kenichi. They got hit…" she broke off into more sobs.

"What?" he breathed out. Inuyasha felt like he got punched in the gut. "What the hell is going on, Sango? I need you to tell me."

"I'm at Mercy hospital right now. You have to come up here; and bring Sesshomaru! They're both unconscious still. Kagome doesn't have her moms number saved. I didn't know who to call. The hospital called me at work because my cousin works here and recognized her file."

"Fuck…" he glared at the phone. "I'll be there as soon as I can. Text me any updates."

He hung up the phone on her and paced rapidly while his father looked at him with a worried expression.

"Dad," he clutched his phone to his chest, "we need to go to the hospital."

That statement even got Sesshomaru's attention.

"What are you talking about?"

Inuyasha didn't want to spill the beans about Kenichi but he needed Sesshomaru to go with him.

"My friend was in an accident."

"So?" his brother asked. He didn't care about Inuyasha's friend. He was training right now.

"I'll explain when we get there." He walked up to the two men before him. "We just need to leave _now_."

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Fuck Sesshomaru!" Inuyasha said, now pissed off, and frustrated. "Would you just listen to me? I'm asking you a fucking favor?"

The elder brother snorted. "What do you need me for, moral support?" he teased.

Inuyasha's face reddened with anger.

"Enough." Toga interrupted. "Inuyasha," he turned to his youngest son, "I understand why you might want me to go with you, but why Sesshomaru?"

Inuyasha covered his face with his hands and groaned. "I can't explain it right now."

The two men looked at Inuyasha with a blank stare. Why couldn't he say why?

"Did I not already help you yesterday?"

"Sesshomaru…" Inuyasha started, he didn't know what to say. What could he say to make the man go with him? "Just give me a half hour of your time. Then you guys can go and you can even leave me there if you want."

Inuyasha was making no sense to his family. What was the point of them coming with him?

"Whatever," Sesshomaru rolled his eyes, "I'll go, but after a half hour we are leaving."

Inuyasha nodded.

"When we get back," Sesshomaru said smugly, "get yourself together. You've been sloppy and pathetic all day. I don't like practicing against such mediocrity. It is beneath me."

Inuyasha growled at him as Sesshomaru started to walk out of the room.

The elder brother mumbled under his breath, "waste of my time." He was slightly interested in finding out what Inuyasha was up to.

Toga sighed and shook his head, following his eldest son. "Let's go, Inuyasha." The boy was acting so strange and he wanted to figure out why.

* * *

The Takahashi trio walked into the hospital where Sango was waiting by the door. Inuyasha had sent her a text while they were parking.

"Inuyasha!" Sango ran up to the man and threw her arms around him.

"How's she doing?" he asked.

"She's better." Sango answered, "She woke up a bit ago and started to freak out about Kenichi, so they had to sedate her because she wouldn't stay still and was about to hurt herself even more."

"And what about..?" he trailed off, not wanting to reveal too much to his family. Hopefully they ignored Sango's previous name drop.

"He's in the children's unit right now under observation."

Inuyasha nodded, taking the information in.

Sango turned to the two men standing behind him. Toga looked concerned and confused, Sesshomaru looked bored and annoyed.

"Hello Mr. Takahashi, Sesshomaru." She nodded her head to each of them. "If you all would follow me, I'll take you to see Kagome."

She turned around and the group followed behind her. They went into an elevator and it was extremely awkward for the whole ride up.

The elevator made a dinging noise before opening. Once the doors separated, Sango let go of the breath she was holding in. She didn't bother to look back as she walked down the hall and up to a door.

She turned around and bit her lip before speaking. "Um, if you could wait out here for just a few minutes?" she looked back and forth to Sesshomaru and Toga.

"Is this a joke?" Sesshomaru glared at Inuyasha. "Why did you insist on my presence in the first place?"

"Please," Sango asked Sesshomaru, "I won't keep you waiting long."

Sesshomaru felt his temper rising as Inuyasha and his friend entered the room. He saw no point in his being there. He could have been doing something much more productive.

_In the room:_

"Kagome," Sango said sweetly, walking up to the hospital bed, "Inuyasha's here."

Kagome opened up her eyes and peered up at her friend.

"Yash," she mumbled with a slur, the sedation was definitely working.

"Hey," he smiled at her, trying not to let her beat up appearance get to him, "How are you?"

"I'm fine," she waved her hand, and groaned from irritating her bruised wrist, "I just want my baby." A few tears escaped and slid down her puffy cheeks.

"Inuyasha brought Sesshomaru and their dad here." Sango said.

Kagome turned her head to look at her friend. Sango never said that anyone was even coming to up to see her.

"I'm going to take the guys to see Kenichi, okay? Then we'll be right back up, and I'll tell you how he is doing since the last time I saw him. Is that alright?"

Kagome nodded solemnly. She was jealous that she couldn't see her own child when he needed her.

They left Kagome's room where Sesshomaru and his father were found conversing.

"Hey," Inuyasha called over to them, "let's go."

Sesshomaru's eyes widened. "Go?"

Even Toga was shocked at this. Did Inuyasha really make them come with him for no reason? To walk him to his friends room and escort him out?

"Follow me," Sango said turning back towards the elevator.

The small group entered the box and Sesshomaru let out a sharp exhale, signaling his annoyance with the whole situation. He was ready to shove Inuyasha's head against the elevator doors for wasting his time.

"Not now, Sesshomaru," Toga warned. He was equally upset, but they would not make a scene in public, especially at a hospital.

When the elevator door opened, they were on the second floor and Sango stepped out. Inuyasha followed right behind her, Sesshomaru and Toga slowly trailed behind, trying to understand why they were on the wrong floor.

The nurses working were already familiar with Sango, as she had been back and for between floors for a while now. They also didn't have to question who the men with her were, the resemblance between them and the Higurashi boy was uncanny.

Sango walked into Kenichi's room and stood at the door. She gestured for the men to walk in first.

Sesshomaru and Toga were now very confused as to what was going on. Inuyasha entered first and walked straight up to the bed where the child was laying.

Toga followed behind and looked over Inuyasha's shoulder, he gasped at the boy in front of him.

"Inuyasha?" he asked, thinking that his son had a secret love child with his friend.

Sesshomaru walked in and had to go around to the other side of the bed to see who it was that his brother and father were looking at.

He saw a young boy laying there, his eyes were closed, but his silver hair and the shape of his face and its features told him all he needed to know; he was a Takahashi.

_'So,' _Sesshomaru thought, _'Inuyasha has a child with whoever was in that room?'_

* * *

AN: Kind of a cliffy, but seeing as this chapter is about 4,000 words it's kind of not. Review please so I can post up the next chapter. It's pretty much done, but I will be looking at the reviews to make sure that I have everything that I need in the next chapter.


	7. What to Expect

AN: WOW! I cannot believe how many reviews I got for the last chapter. You guys truly made me feel so honored. I just want to say THANK YOU to those who took the time to do so; it made my day and I loved the feedback I received.

Also I would like to state that there are NO DEMONS in this story. The men do have the silver hair but unfortunately no doggie ears on Inuyasha and no markings or elfin ears on Sesshomaru and his father. As much as I would love for them to be their normal selves like that, it's a lot more complicated to have demon characters with their ages, senses, abilities and it just makes them so much more than I need. I feel like to have them as demons just makes me have to be more careful about how I portray them and instances where their demon abilities make my plot and points invalid. I am however keeping the silver hair and gold eyes though. I've watched anime where humans have odd colored hair/eyes so I feel I can get away with the hair/eyes being believable. A human Sesshomaru is bad enough as it is but it's doable; a Sesshomaru without the long silver hair and honey gold eyes is just plain wrong! and against the unwritten laws of nature. A few reviews have made me suspect that some readers thought they were demons. So I just wanted to clear that up!

Hope you all like this chapter just as much as the last!

* * *

_Sesshomaru walked in and had to go around to the other side of the bed to see who it was that his brother and father were looking at._

_He saw a young boy laying there, his eyes were closed, but his silver hair and the shape of his face and its features told him all he needed to know; he was a Takahashi._

_'So,' Sesshomaru thought, 'Inuyasha has a child with whoever was in that room?'_

* * *

"Why did you never say anything?" Toga asked his youngest son. He also believed that the boy was the child of his youngest son.

"I just found out the other night." He replied honestly, not knowing that the two in the room thought him to be the father.

Sesshomaru's anger dissipated as he felt remorse towards his younger brother. "I'm sorry," he told him, now knowing why Inuyasha wanted them there so badly.

Kenichi may have resembled Sesshomaru more than Inuyasha, but it had been a long time since either man was that young; and it was much easier to picture Inuyasha being the father since he was the one dragging his own father and brother around the hospital.

Inuyasha sighed. He realized that Sesshomaru had no idea what was going on.

"This isn't my kid." He said, as he looked Sesshomaru dead in the eye. "This is Kagome's son and _I," _he emphasized the 'I', "never slept with her."

Sesshomaru uncharacteristically dropped his mouth open as the wheels started to turn in his head. Kagome was the crazy stripper that he had apparently hooked up with years ago. This young boy that resembled his brother and himself was her child, yet she never had sex with Inuyasha. She had sex with him… she had sex with him a few years ago, and by the looks of it, the boy was only a few years old. The dates matched up but… he couldn't be this child's father. That was unacceptable.

"Explain." Sesshomaru glared at his little brother.

"Are you that fucking dumb?" Inuyasha said, reaching his limit with his sibling's attitude; he had been biting his tongue for quite a while now. "What more do you need to know that you can't put two and two together?"

"Sesshomaru?" Toga asked his eldest son, shock was written all over his face as he took in Sesshomaru's astonished expression. The man was unaware of the events that took place during the child's conception and was extremely confused as to which of his son's was responsible for the little boy before them. Why is it that Inuyasha's friend was in the hospital but this child was not his?

Sesshomaru studied the child's face as he slowly began to accept what he knew was the truth. He closed his eyes and sighed.

Inuyasha decided to elaborate for his father. "Kagome was coming over to introduce him to Sesshomaru today."

Toga frowned and Sesshomaru watched, stone faced.

"Sango said that they were hit on the way here. I guess the person in the other car ran a light…"

Sesshomaru looked down at the young boy in front of him. The child's hair was a mess, there was a brace wrapped around his neck as well as lump on his forehead. He also had a many small cuts on his face and body.

"What is his name?" He whispered.

"Kenichi." Inuyasha answered just as quietly. No more words were spoken as the three men let everything sink into their minds and studied the child before them. He was perfectly still except for the gentle rise and fall of his chest.

Sango made her entrance after she was done getting an update on the boy from the nurses in the hall.

"How's it going in here?" she asked the trio, not really sure if she wanted to know the answer to her question.

Sesshomaru and Toga were oblivious to her, both still staring at Kenichi like he was an alien. Well in some ways he could be considered so. He did just come out of nowhere to the men. They knew nothing about him and were just shocked by his mere existence. Inuyasha was the only one to acknowledge the woman's presence at first and answered her.

"Shitty," he replied honestly as he turned away from the boy. "What did the nurses say?"

Sango smiled. "He woke up not long ago. Now he's just resting," she answered quietly. "The medicines he's on make him tired."

Everyone was surprised to hear Sesshomaru speak. "Will he be okay?" He didn't take his eyes off the boy as he spoke.

"Oh!" After her surprise at his concern wore off, she answered, "Well they were T-boned during the accident; the car seat saved his life. His head bent during the collision and he knocked it against the edge of the seat, hard. The glass from both side windows shattered and that's why he has a few cuts on his face, neck, and arms."

Sesshomaru, as well as his father and Inuyasha nodded, listening to the woman.

"He should be fine." Sango said, sounding much calmer than she did on the phone. "They at first couldn't get him to respond to them and had to do a few scans to check for damage but the results show little to no swelling in his head. Just the lump from the skin, but his brain is okay. He must have gotten knocked out from the blow with the seat. But the glass is all out, and they just want to stabilize his neck for now since he has a slight sprain from the tension."

Sango saw all the men visibly relax in front of her after she finished her explanation, but she still felt the discomfort in the room.

"So," she moved to hold Kenichi's hand while looking at Sesshomaru, "congratulations, it's a boy." She gave him an awkward smile. This was not the time to be joking but she just had to do something, anything to lighten up the mood.

The new father blinked at the woman in front of him. He was in no mood for jesting. Was this a joyous occasion or a bad one? Should he be happy or upset? His emotions were conflicting.

"I can't believe this." Sesshomaru said to himself, confused about his feelings for the situation. He wanted to be mad and deny it. If Kagome would have shown up at his home today he would have sent them away. Regardless of the resemblance he would have demanded a paternity test, and when it came back positive he'd make arrangements to sign the boy off and pay child support. He didn't want to be a father, especially right now. He had too much going for him to let parenthood get in his way and slow him down. His stomach started twisting; for the first time Sesshomaru felt overwhelmed.

He looked at the injured child in front of him. The little boy squeezed his eyes tight in his slumber. With that movement the full reality hit him that the boy could have died before Sesshomaru even knew he existed. Imagine that, to find out that you _had_ a son, but no longer had the opportunity to make the choice of being his father. The choice would have been nothing more than an idea.

Yes, he could have lost him, and the slate would have been wiped clean; a dodged bullet. Not a thing in his life would have changed… but the boy survived the incident. Sesshomaru did not dodge any bullet, he may have been able to avoid it for some time, but now he'd been hit.

The part that was craziest to him though, was how thankful he felt for the boy's survival. As he looked at the small injured boy, a warm feeling spread through his chest. It was unfamiliar, yet extremely comforting.

He liked it.

"I want to speak with his mother, alone." He said, directing his statement towards his brother and father. Any discussion to take place was between Kagome and himself only.

"Okay," Sango replied, "I'll walk you back up there, since I'm sure you don't remember which room it is."

Sesshomaru nodded and took one last glance at Kenichi before leaving the room with Sango.

Their walk through the hospital was silent. Sesshomaru was lost in his thoughts and Sango could tell from the dazed look on his face. She couldn't blame him though; she wouldn't be able to imagine what it'd be like to be in his position.

When they reached Kagome's room, Sango finally spoke.

"I'm going to update her on Kenichi's progress, but then I'll give you guys your privacy. I'll be out here in the hall."

"That is fine."

They entered the small room where Kagome was laying. She looked away from the television she was watching when she noticed their presence.

"How is he?" she asked with wide eyes. She would concern herself with Sesshomaru later, her priority was Kenichi.

"He's doing well." Sango grinned, walking over to her best friend. "He's just resting now. They went over the scans and x-rays; he has no visible internal damage or broken bones. He has a small knot on his forehead, but that will go away eventually. All of the glass in his skin has been removed and he's going to be just fine."

"I want to see him."

"Kagome," Sango sighed, "you know you can't go anywhere right now. Kenichi will be discharged before you and I swear I will bring him up to you first thing."

Kagome nodded. "Okay."

"I'll be outside if you need me." Sango ended their conversation by walking out of the room.

Kagome finally acknowledged Sesshomaru. "Hey," she said, miserably. All her fears about meeting him were gone. She had just survived a potentially fatal accident. This meeting was nothing compared to her pervious ordeal.

Sesshomaru struggled, trying to find the right words. He was having a hard time sorting out his thoughts as it was.

"You are the girl I slept with at Inuyasha's graduation party?"

Kagome nodded and averted her eyes. '_At least he knows who I am this time.'_

Sesshomaru moved to sit in the chair beside her bed. "Your son was conceived that night."

"He was," she confirmed.

"So," Sesshomaru sighed, "he is my child then?" There was no reason to deny it now; the boy resembled him in every way. If not his son, he was Inuyasha's, and if it was Inuyasha's child they wouldn't try to say it was his own. Still, the question needed to be asked.

"Yes." Kagome wondered if he would try to say it wasn't his son. Some men were impossible to convince and even skeptical with paternity tests.

"How old is he?"

Kagome smiled; Sesshomaru's question calmed some of her previous fears. "He recently turned three."

"Why did it take three years for me to find out I had a son?" he could feel some anger coming back to him.

"I was going to tell you when I found out I was pregnant." Kagome glared at him. "It's not my fault you moved across the country. I had no way to contact you."

"You could have called or written a letter." He returned her glare; his was much fiercer than hers.

"Oh," Kagome smirked, "because I had a number and address."

"You could have called my brother," he said. She had a point about not having the address but there was no reason she couldn't have called Inuyasha.

"I deleted his number a few weeks after the party," she explained. "If I had it when I found out about being pregnant I would have obviously called him."

There was a silence between them. They both stared at each other, eyes narrowed.

"I saw you two days ago and you said nothing."

"Are you kidding me?" Kagome's mouth dropped open. "I didn't know what to say! I almost had a heart attack just seeing you! Yet you expect me to just reintroduce myself and tell you that I had your child?"

"It would have been better than finding out like this."

Kagome was speechless. '_What an asshole! Anything would have been better than this!'_

Sesshomaru continued to glare at her as he waited for her to say something. He was definitely upset with the entire situation. Did he want to be a father? No! But if he was going to be one, he at least wanted to be a good one. Instead, he missed some of the most important milestones of his child's life. He felt cheated.

When a few minutes passed and Kagome didn't say anything Sesshomaru began to feel frustrated.

"So," he said, trying to be amicable, "now what?"

"I don't know." Kagome sighed. "Now you know, so do what you want with the information."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I'm not going to force you to be a father. I know you have your own life going on and this is all very sudden." Kagome had no control of Sesshomaru's decisions and actions. If he didn't want to be in Kenichi's life than she wouldn't make him. Kenichi deserved the best and if he didn't want to be in the boy's life then he didn't deserve to be. Of course she hoped that somehow they could figure something out and Kenichi could have his father, but if not it there was nothing she could do about it. Besides, they'd done fine without him thus far, and they would continue to do so if need be.

Sesshomaru put his hands over his face as he leaned back. He felt as if he was drowning. One second he had his whole future figured out, the next second his life was turned upside down.

"I must think," he said, standing up and leaving the room.

Sesshomaru rushed past Sango and went straight to the elevator. He wanted to talk to his father. He needed guidance.

* * *

When Sesshomaru walked into Kenichi's hospital room, he was surprised to see his father and Inuyasha laughing. As he got closer the child turned to look at him with the same golden eyes that he had.

The boy smiled and pointed to him. "Are you my daddy?"

Sesshomaru froze.

"We had to introduce ourselves." Toga said. "I told him that I'm his grandfather. Inuyasha is his uncle and his dad is with his mother right now and that you would be here soon."

"So," Kenichi grinned, "you're my daddy?" Sesshomaru nodded to the boy.

"Yes."

"I always wanted a daddy!" Kenichi clasped his hands together. The boy looked too happy for someone sitting in a hospital bed.

"Father," Sesshomaru turned to Toga, "I need to speak with you."

"Of course, son." He then looked at his grandchild. "Kenichi, why don't you talk to you uncle, while I speak with your father privately?"

The toddler nodded, eagerly. He smiled at Inuyasha and began rambling about his favorite activities.

The two eldest Taisho's left the room and found a small reception area to sit and talk with semi-privacy.

Toga was the first to speak, sensing his son's discomfort. "The boy is quite charming. Very animated," his eyes closed for a moment, "his personality reminds me of Inuyasha as a child. You were always quite serious." He smiled as he reminisced when his own children were that young.

Sesshomaru exhaled. "I do not know what to do." He was very conflicted. He had a plan for his life. This was not part of his plan. Everything was backwards and nothing made sense.

"Well, what are your options?"

"I believe I have two." Sesshomaru said, looking into the distance as he thought. "My first option is to go home as fast as I can and never look back."

"Really?" Toga crossed his arms, surprised that Sesshomaru could be so indifferent. He was at times selfish, but this was extreme.

"No," Sesshomaru shrugged, "I could never abandon my own son. Even if I am only now discovering his existence." Toga released a deep breath, relieved at his son's morals.

"Okay." The man nodded. "Now, what about the other option?"

"I could somehow be a father to him." Sesshomaru answered.

The elder Taisho smiled with approval.

"However…" Sesshomaru grimaced, "what of my career? My lifestyle is currently not that of a parent."

It wasn't. He and Kagome lived on opposite sides of the country. Sesshomaru spent most of his time training and he was never known to stay with one woman for long. He wasn't afraid of commitment, he just never found a woman worth committing to; he didn't have the time nor interest to look either.

"I am unsure of how to be a father." He continued, "What am I supposed to do with a toddler? Most get time to adjust and prepare, I cannot simply jump into a role that I know nothing about."

"That is true, but it should come naturally." Toga reassured. At least they were passed the waking up at all hours of the night phase, and no dirty diapers or getting thrown up on.

"I suppose," Sesshomaru said in a defeated tone. "Although, I am stuck on how to proceed with the living arrangements. I can't imagine how to co-parent when I live so far from the boy and his mother." He was truly perplexed at this. "I can't take the boy with us because his home is here and I will not try to separate him from his mother. Of all things, I do not want to be a single parent. I also doubt the woman would let me come in and take her child away."

"Yes," his father agreed, "she is a dedicated mother from the little that Inuyasha has told me. He does not know everything but it is apparent that she tries her best."

'_Her best? She took her sweet time presenting him to me to be trying her best.'_ Sesshomaru thought to himself, miffed.

"Maybe you and the boy's mother can reach some sort of agreement."

Sesshomaru tilted his head, waiting for his father to elaborate on the idea.

"We have the funds." Toga started to explain. "We can fly him out to us to visit for a bit. He can spend some time with all of us and then we send him back here to his mother. It can be for varying amounts of time and however often you two agree upon."

"No," Sesshomaru shook his head, "you forget that she almost lost him today. I doubt she will trust leaving him on a plane and trusting his safety without her there to protect him." Sesshomaru would never let anything harm the boy. Nobody in the family would, but after current events, the woman's judgment would be flawed in regards to trusting the child to be safe.

"Of course." The newly appointed grandfather frowned; if it wasn't for the accident his idea would have been perfect.

The two sat in silence, pondering on what they could do.

"Perhaps," Sesshomaru mused aloud, "I could travel out here."

His father's face lit up.

"I can stay at the old house," Sesshomaru said with confidence as his plan began to come together. "If I come out here, his mother will not be far when I spend time alone with him. Then neither of us would have to stress the boy out over leaving his mother, especially flying alone."

"Brilliant," Toga was grinning ear to ear, "and you can still focus on your career but have a part in the child's life as well. When the three of you are all more comfortable with each other, you can eventually have him come home for a bit with us."

"Yes," Sesshomaru smiled, "that could work."

"Great." Toga stood up and stretched; his stress from the conversation slowly leaving him. "Now let's go see this young boy; he has the most captivating personality. He must get it from his mother, because I know it's not from you."

The man laughed at his own joke, Sesshomaru did not find it as funny.

Sesshomaru wordlessly stood from the chair. He was feeling his nerves turn on edge at the realization that he was about to meet his son. Yes they had been introduced, but he was actually going to get to know a little about the boy and vice versa. _Never_ in his life had he cared about what anyone thought of him; he was superior to most, their opinions did not matter. This little boy though, his opinion mattered more than even Sesshomaru's own.

Sesshomaru's mind raced as he walked back to the room his child was waiting in. He wondered what his son was like, the boys disposition. Physically Sesshomaru saw his childhood reflection, but personality wise… did they have anything in common. Would Sesshomaru see himself in his child's antics, just as he shared some of his own sire's traits? What if they were polar opposites and Kenichi couldn't stand him? Or worse, what if Kenichi and Sesshomaru got along perfectly; Sesshomaru's number one priority in life was his career, would his son change that?

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AN: Review please :)


	8. Baby by Me

AN: Thank you for the reviews. I am not exactly sure how happy I am with this chapter, but after reading and editing it over and over and over again. I've settled for this. It's not settling that much though, I think the story is still good, and I have other chapters I'm working on that I feel are way better! I think every writer has those chapters where they want it to be better but can't make it better. That's where I am with this one. Anyways, I'll let you all read now. Please let me know what you think! I look forward to the feedback :)

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The two men entered the boy's hospital room. Inuyasha was showing the boy some game on his phone and he nodded to his brother as he came in. Sesshomaru had been getting on his last nerves lately, but he was probably going insane at the moment, so he'd play nice; for now.

Toga had spent a lot of time talking with Kenichi to get a feel for him. The child was very happy, and he seemed elated at the idea of having a father, uncle, and grandfather. He decided to sit back and watch as Sesshomaru interacted with his new son.

Sesshomaru was feeling more confident with his game plan; the only unknown right now was Kenichi. He hoped that he and the child would get along.

"Kenichi," Sesshomaru walked up to the boy and sat next to him. "Tell me about yourself."

"Well," the child smiled and thought for a second about what he wanted to say, "I'm Kenichi, I three years old."

Sesshomaru nodded. "Where do you live?"

"I live at my house," he placed a palm on his chest, "with mommy and Sango."

"Of course." Sesshomaru smirked at the response. Then he realized that he was already out of questions. When was the last time he honestly put any effort into getting to know someone? Probably never. "…what do you like to do for fun?" he settled upon.

The boys face lit up. "I like watching TV, and to eat, and I play with mommy."

"Mhm," where was he going with this? "What do you play?"

"We play hide and seek, and we play at the park, we play learning, and we play lots of games."

"That is good." Sesshomaru was unsure of where to continue. He was not the friendliest person in the world and that was an understatement when it came to children. "Do you have any questions for me?"

The young boy pouted.

"You can ask me anything, Kenichi," Sesshomaru reassured, "I want us to get to know each other."

"Why now?"

Sesshomaru was caught off guard. "Excuse me?" Inuyasha and Toga's eyes widened at the boy's question. Kenichi was only three years old so that was a pretty deep question. Maybe if he was a teenager or even a preteen, but a toddler?

"Where was you? I wanted a daddy forever." The boy frowned. He had seen other children play with their dad's. He wanted one too and he couldn't understand why he had to wait so long for his own father when everyone else already had one.

Sesshomaru took a moment, wanting to respond in the best way possible. Kenichi's question seemed innocent enough, he hoped that Kagome had not said anything to the boy to tarnish his reputation.

"I was at work." It was not the whole reason for his absence, but in a way it was. Besides, how much would he have to elaborate for the little boy?

"At work?" he asked innocently.

"Yes," Sesshomaru nodded. Inuyasha and Toga watched the exchange, wondering what Kenichi's next response would be.

"You work more than mommy," Kenichi said, understanding. His mother frequently left him to go to work; if Sesshomaru was never there then he must work way more than Kagome did.

"I do." Sesshomaru smiled, thankful that the boy would take his excuse. "I work a lot, and I live very far."

"You live far?" The boy did not understand the concept.

"I live far away," Sesshomaru repeated, unsure of how to elaborate distance to a toddler. "Now you will see more of me. I will work less, and won't be so busy. Would you like that?" he asked.

Kenichi's eyes lit up and he nodded up and down rapidly. "Uh huh."

"That is good." Sesshomaru smiled softly, as did Inuyasha and Toga. '_This might just work out.'_

Unfortunately visiting hour were coming to an end and they had to go home. Sesshomaru wished they could have stayed a bit longer, but there was only so much bonding he could do at a time anyways. So far though, he liked the child. The boy was very respectful and smart. Sesshomaru commended Kagome for how well she had done with him thus far without any of his own input. She was a great mother, and it showed in her son.

The Taisho men stood up from their seats, all ready to leave.

"Good bye, Kenichi." Toga smiled and gave the boy a small bow before walking out of the room. He was in a pretty good mood. His grandson was charming, and he would fit in well with the family.

"See you later kid." Inuyasha smirked. He held his fist out and to his surprise, Kenichi actually made a fist and bumped his small hand against Inuyasha's. "Pretty cool." He said as he too left the room.

"I will see you very soon." Sesshomaru was left alone with the child for a moment, unsure of what to do. He settled for a gentle pat on the boy's head, careful not to touch his bump. With that awkward moment over, he turned to leave.

Kenichi pouted and began to cry as his father walked out of the room; Sesshomaru began to feel guilty.

"Daddy," Kenichi yelled out, ready to jump out of his bed, "don't leave me." Poor Kenichi, he didn't want to stay alone in the hospital.

"I shall return tomorrow." Sesshomaru told him. "Go to bed now, when you wake up everything will be okay." That should have worked. In Sesshomaru's ignorant mind the boy would have done exactly as he said, but he knew nothing about children.

"No!" The temper tantrum was about to begin. Kenichi's face became red and his tears streamed down his cheeks. "No, no, no!" He shook his head furiously. "I wanna go home!"

Thankfully a nurse stepped in to calm the child. "Kenichi! It's okay!" She hurried over to give him a hug.

Sesshomaru thought it best he left while the boy was distracted, but if he ever in his life felt like a complete piece of shit, it was now. This was his son but he had no clue how to handle him, how to be a parent. He fully expected the boy to have listened to him and lain down to sleep at his command. Kenichi did not listen to him though, and a feeling of doubt crept into his heart. So far, he was a horrible father, and he knew it.

He could hear Kenichi crying out in a defeated voice. "I want my mommy!" The wailing continued and slowly faded out as the three Takahashi men walked away from the room and down the hall.

Inuyasha was silent, but in his mind he admitted that his nephew sure did have a set of lungs. _'Poor kid,'_ he thought to himself. It wasn't easy being in the hospital, and to be a child all alone, Inuyasha sympathized with him.

They all entered the elevator and Sesshomaru let out a breath as soon as the doors closed.

"Sesshomaru." Toga turned to his son. "He'll be fine." He could see the self doubt from the expression on his son's usually expressionless face. He understood that parenthood was never easy, and that a lot of mistakes would be made. It was a learning experience, raising a child; Sesshomaru would have to learn it just like everyone else. "There will be good days and there will be bad days." He spoke the truth. Some days he would sit and wonder if he was doing a good job, other days he knew his was.

"I know this." Sesshomaru snapped at his father. He didn't need anyone comforting him. He wasn't a child. He just wanted to be left alone. They did not understand. This was the first time he'd met his son, and it ended with the child screaming and crying.

The elevator opened up on the first floor as the trio made their exit. The ride home was silent and tense.

Inuyasha was in a good mood, he chose to ignore their exit and focus on how happy his nephew was. Toga was feeling sorry for his oldest son, he could sense his unease.

Sesshomaru was deep in thought; he wouldn't get much sleep that night either. Mentally he was exhausted from such a day. He found out he had a son, only to realize that he could have lost said son. Then they spend a short amount of awkward time together which ends horribly. He definitely did not expect a father of the year award.

His father's words rang in his head. _'There will be good days and there will be bad days.'_ Sesshomaru hoped that this was true and that there would be less bad days than good.

* * *

The next morning Sango went back to pick up Kenichi since he was being discharged very early. He still had to wear his neck brace for the next week, but he was given medicine to help his numerous scabs heal faster and the swelling on his forehead was gone to be replaced with a dark bruise.

"Sango," the little boy asked as they left the hospital, "are we gonna see mommy?"

"Yes," she answered, "but first we're going to get some breakfast and bring some food back for her." She had promised Kagome that Kenichi would see her as soon as he was released, but Sango wanted to get him something decent to eat, as well as Kagome.

"Oh," he said as Sango buckled him up in the car seat, "okay."

The two went to a small family diner and had breakfast, making sure to get a small order to go for Kagome. Then they drove back to the hospital and went to Kagome's room.

Sango knocked on the door before opening it. "Kagome, guess who's here!" she said, in a singsong voice.

"Mommy!" Kenichi ran in the room and jumped up on Kagome's bed.

"Hey baby," she smiled. "How are you?" Oh how much she'd missed him!

"I'm okay. I have lots of booboos." He looked his mother up and down. "Mommy, you look bad."

Sango couldn't help but laugh at the expression on Kagome's face. Don't kids just say the darndest things? No filter at all!

"I know sweetie." Kagome had glanced at her reflection earlier that day. She had scratches all over her face, a busted and lip, her right eye was blackened, and her hair was a mess. She had a brace on her wrist and her body was covered in bruises and cuts.

Sango placed the bag on Kagome's table. "We brought you some breakfast."

"Thanks," Kagome said, "the food here sucks. They gave me one tiny pancake and the smallest amount of oatmeal possible." She was ready to go home.

Kenichi cuddled under the crook of Kagome's arm as she sat up to eat her food. He was so happy. He missed his mother and he wanted to be with her. Surprisingly the car accident didn't affect him too negatively. Maybe it was due to him meeting his father.

"Mommy," he said, looking up at her, "I have a daddy."

Kagome tried not to let him see her flinch at his words.

"He looks like me."

She nodded. "Yes, he does," that was an understatement. "What did you think about him?"

"He tall," Kenichi said with improper grammar.

Kagome smiled. "Yes, he **_is_** tall. What else?"

"He no talk a lot."

"He doesn't talk a lot?" she asked; correcting him.

The boy nodded.

"Was he kind to you?" she asked him. That was important, Sesshomaru was not known for his kindness.

"Yes, and I met grandpa and un-unc..." he struggled to find the right word.

"Uncle?"

"Yeah," he nodded, "uncle. He funny."

"That's good." Kagome replied. "Inuyasha is very funny."

She had not spoken with Sesshomaru since he left her room the previous night. She had no idea what his plans were in regards to Kenichi and fathering him.

At the thought of Sesshomaru, her phone started to ring, she did not recognize the number.

Kagome swiped to answer. "Hello?"

"Kagome."

It sounded like… "Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha must have given him her number.

"Yes."

"Oh," her eyes widened, "what's up?" she asked, not knowing what else to say. He did call _her_ after all.

"I want to see Kenichi today. I told him I would."

"You did that yesterday." She became worried, she hoped his motives were not only because he gave his word. "I don't want you to trick him into thinking he has you, for you to leave and never talk to him again." Yes she wanted them to know each other, but she didn't want Kenichi to get his hopes up for Sesshomaru to disappear.

"That will not happen."

"Really?" Kagome's heart sped up and she quickly squashed the feeling. "What makes you so sure?" she asked, fully doubting him.

"He is my first and only child. I already missed three years of his existence and almost lost him." Sesshomaru was not one for long winded explanations, but he knew that he needed to reassure this woman. "I will have a part in his life."

"That…" she paused for a second, "that's good to know." Oh how she hoped he was being honest.

"Hn."

"He was discharged this morning. If you want to see him, he'll be with me in my room. I don't get to leave until a few hours from now, the doctor wants to look at a few things before I get to go home."

"That is fine. I will stop over. We have much to discuss."

"I agre-" she was cut off by the sound of the call ending. She looked at her phone. "That asshole, he hung up on me."

* * *

Less than an hour later, Sesshomaru walked into Kagome's hospital room where he found her, their son, and Sango.

Kenichi was taking a nap in Kagome's bed while Kagome and Sango watched a movie on the television.

"Ladies," he greeted them.

"I'm gonna go to the cafeteria," Sango said, standing up. "You want anything, Kagome?"

"I'm good."

"Okay." Sango hastily left the room. As curious as she was, she didn't want to be there to hear the serious discussion about to take place. She'd just ask Kagome for the main parts later.

"Hey," Kagome greeted Sesshomaru quietly, not wanting to wake up her child.

Sesshomaru took a seat beside her, where Sango was previously sitting. He stayed up throughout most of the night making a lot of important life decisions.

"How are you feeling?" he asked politely.

"Like crap. I feel like I got beat up, or hit by a truck."

"No. It was just another car," he joked.

"Thanks." She said with a jealous tone. He looked amazing and handsome in his pristinely white button down shirt. He had a pair of blue jeans on and black shoes. His long hair was tied at the base of his neck and not a strand was out of place. Kagome looked terrible. Her hair was wild and she was wearing a hospital gown over her clothes. She was covered in cuts and bruises and her pretty lips were temporarily ruined. Life was not fair.

"We have some things to talk about, preferably while he is asleep."

"I agree." Kagome nodded, trying to look like she was a bit more confident with her appearance.

"I want to be in his life."

"First things first, you're not taking him from me." She glared, ready to jump up and fight if necessary. It was an irrational fear but Kenichi was her baby and Sesshomaru couldn't just come out of nowhere and take him from her. She did all the work these last years, not him. He did not say he planned to take the boy but she needed to get it out there on the table just in case.

"I do not plan on it." He reassured her. "I figured that we could make an arrangement."

"Like what?" She was curious.

"I can fly out and visit. One week every month. Sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on my schedule. He can stay with me at my family's home."

Kagome bit her lip, then instantly regretted it when she felt the stabbing pain from her injury.

"I don't know." Once a week each month was a long time. She'd never been without him for more than a day at the most.

"What is wrong with that?" Clearly the whole thing worked out in her favor.

Kagome sighed. "Nothing." She had no reasonable excuse to deny him one week a month with his son. She would still have the other three. He wasn't asking for much, really. "That sounds expensive though."

Sesshomaru shook his head. "I can afford it."

Kagome looked away, "Alright," she said quietly. She had no argument; although she couldn't help but feel envious of his wealth.

"Good." He nodded, ready to continue onto his next topic. "I want his last name changed."

"What?" her eyes widened, as she looked at him with shock. "No," she whispered fiercely.

"Why not? He is my son; he should have his father's last name."

"He wasn't your son until yesterday, he's a Higurashi. He was raised a Higurashi for his whole life-"

"Well now he's going to be raised a Takahashi."

"No," she continued, "what have you ever done for him to deserve him having your last name? Nothing."

Sesshomaru changed his tone. "That is not my fault," his eyes flashed dangerously.

"It kind of is," she retorted, "you were out there perusing your dreams while I put mine on hold to take care of him. I do everything for him. He should have my last name." Maybe it wasn't his entire fault; she was to blame as well. But Kenichi was a Higurashi and Kagome was not going to sign him away so easily.

"We'll see about that." The man's eyes narrowed. He would not have his son running around with anyone's last name but his own.

"I am his mother, his only legal guardian. I'm not changing his name."

"Very well." Sesshomaru knew that continuing the argument was pointless so he moved onto his next concern. He would go back to the name problem once he established his place as Kenichi's father and he had more authority on the boy's life. "I don't want you dancing."

"Excuse me?" she raised an eyebrow. This request caught her by surprise, even more so than the name changing issue.

"The mother of my child will not be a stripper." He stared down at her haughtily.

Kagome fought herself to keep her voice down. "Where do you get off, telling me what I can and cannot do? Dancing has been the reason I've been able to provide for _your _child. He had a lot of medical bills as a baby and how do you think a 19 year old girl with no college education was able to afford it all?"

"It doesn't matter. You're setting a bad example."

"B-bad example?" Her face reddened with anger. "My example is that I pay all my bills on time, while being able to afford to do nice things with my child. Everything that Kenichi and I have, I paid for. You have no right to tell me what I can and can't do for money."

"I will be able to give you financial support." He turned to flick an imaginary piece of lint off his shoulder. He really could not see what the big deal that she was making was. It was a simple request, and it was more beneficial to her than she could have asked for.

"Look," Kagome almost growled at him, "I don't need your money. I have my own."

"Do not insult me, Kagome. Kenichi is my son too. It is my responsibility to help provide for him."

She sighed. "You're right; it is your responsibility to help provide for him. But that does not mean you get to dictate what I do with my life." She paused for a moment, to think. "When I can, I'll do the math and figure out how much I spend on him every month. Then you can pay me half of that."

"It's that important for you to continue stripping?" Sesshomaru rolled his eyes. "I will be giving you well more than half the amount of his monthly expenses. You will not struggle to take care of the boy while I am here to help. I don't see why you can't find something else to do."

"Sesshomaru," she crossed her arms, "I still have bills to pay. I pay rent, I have to make my car payments, and I take Kenichi out a lot. I don't want to just get by." Truth was, with Sesshomaru's money in the picture, Kagome felt insignificant. She wanted to do just as much for her son as his father could.

"How ambitious of you." He said with narrowed eyes.

"You don't understand." Tears were brimming at this point. She didn't want Kenichi to be resentful towards her in the future. The Takahashi's had so much money and they could do anything they wanted at any given time. If Kagome quit her job, what if Kenichi insisted on leaving her when he was older. Why would he stay with his mother living an average life when he could have everything with Sesshomaru?

"What I understand is that you need to reevaluate what kind of life you want to live. People look down on women like you."

"Women like m-" he cut her off.

"Women who take their clothes off for money." He specified.

"If it's so bad then why were you there that night?" She retorted.

Sesshomaru wanted to laugh. "I was there for entertainment. Don't ever think I have respect for any of the females in that building."

"We work for our money just like any other person." Kagome said, defensively. "You don't know the women and half of their stories. Being good looking enough to dance is a blessing for some of us."

"I get that." Sesshomaru put his thumb and index finger on his forehead as he tried to explain. "I realize that the money you make there is unparalleled to any other job with your skills and education."

"Well if you see that, then why are you making such a big deal for?" She was getting confused.

"Alright," Sesshomaru stood to his full height and gave her his most serious face as he looked down on her, "do you realize how it reflects upon me? I have a child that I've neglected, unintentionally of course, and his mother is reduced to dancing around a pole naked and grinding on strangers' laps for money."

He did not give her a chance to speak and continued.

"It's disgusting and it makes me look bad, it is shameful for both of us."

She was getting tired of his insults. "Sesshomaru what I do is no concern of yours. I'm living my own life just like you have your own. You don't get to control my life."

"Kagome. You have taken care of my son by yourself this whole time. Now I am here. Things are going to be much different." He knew that Kagome was no gold digger. If she was, it wouldn't have taken so long for Kenichi's existence to be made known. He had money and had no problem sharing it with her, to an extent of course.

She looked up at him; she wasn't sure how she felt about his words. Sadness, confusion, a weird sense that resembled hope; but hope for what?

Sesshomaru spoke after a few moments of silence.

"Regardless of our relationship status, you are the mother of my child. Therefore I will not have you going without. You will be well taken care of financially as long as I am able to do so. By the look of my bank accounts right now, it will be a very long time. The need for you to continue with your current career choice is gone."

Kagome looked away, feeling vulnerable. That's the way the world worked, whoever had the money had the power; and between the two of them, it was Sesshomaru by a landslide. It was at this time that the deeply sleeping boy began to stir, thus ending their conversation.

"We will finish this discussion at a later time." Sesshomaru said, as two eyes reflecting his own peered up at him.

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AN: please review, like I said before I really struggled writing this chapter. It'd be nice to know how I did :)


	9. Playing House

AN: Thank you for everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I hoped for more but its okay, I appreciate those of you who did.  
Also if you get a chance check out my other story What You Do. I updated it to chapter 40. It's an Inu/Kag story

Hoping you guys like this chapter!

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Kenichi smiled when he woke up to see his father standing beside the bed. "Daddy!" he exclaimed, jumping off the bed and clinging onto Sesshomaru's legs.

Sesshomaru did not know how to respond; he bent over and patted the child's head. "Good afternoon."

"What about me?" Kagome asked her son. She fought back the feelings that told her he liked his father more.

Kenichi let go of Sesshomaru's leg and climbed back into her bed.

"I'm sowwy mommy" he said sweetly as he hugged her.

Kagome smiled. "That's better."

"Mommy," Kenichi pulled away, "can we go home now?"

"Not now honey," she frowned, wanting to leave just as much as he did, "later today we can. You can watch TV while we wait." She handed him the remote and his attention was completely dedicated to cartoons.

"So," Kagome turned to the man standing beside her, "how long were you going to stick around for?" She tried to hold back the animosity she felt from his previous words. They would finish the conversation later, and she'd let him have it then.

He took note at Kenichi's actions before checking his watch. The boy was engrossed in the cartoons and his presence was no longer needed.

"I suppose I'll go home for a bit." He was in no mood to be ignored by his son and hang out with Kagome. "You will be released today?"

"Yeah." She was eager to get home.

He nodded. "Give me a call when you get home." She had his number in her phone from when he called her earlier.

"Kenichi," he said, "I am leaving."

"No!" the little boy's eyes widened, "don't go."

"I will see you later today." He started to worry, memories of the night before were flashing through his mind.

"But-" Kagome cut the boy off.

"Kenichi," she said firmly, "he will see you later today. Do not throw a temper tantrum while I'm sick." She wasn't exactly sick, but Kenichi didn't really understand the difference between being sick and being in a lot of pain. Besides, they were in a hospital, so for the time being Kagome was 'sick_.'_

The child's eyes widened as he looked at his mother. She continued to give him her stern look, as if willing him to go against her wishes. They had a stare down for a few moments. Kenichi's pursed his lips harder so Kagome tilted her head.

Sesshomaru was more than surprised when the little boy sighed and looked at him, a frown was on his face.

"Pwomise?"

"You have my word," the man nodded. He couldn't believe the difference between Kenichi listening to his mother and himself. Last night, Kenichi had a full blown fit with him, but Kagome stopped the boy before he even started.

Kenichi smiled and stretched out his arms, expecting to be picked up.

Sesshomaru hesitated. Kenichi was unfazed and continued to reach up so Sesshomaru bent forward and lifted the boy. For the first time in his life, Sesshomaru Taisho held his son. Regardless of the fact that Kenichi was three years old and clearly not a newborn, Sesshomaru still felt the same way any man would if he were. At that moment, he felt how every man felt the first time they held their child.

Kenichi wrapped his small arms around his father's neck and squeezed. Sesshomaru could have melted. His blood rushed and his heart pounded in his chest. He turned to give Kenichi a kiss on the top of his head and then carefully put him down.

"Good bye." He said to the Higurashis.

"See ya." Kagome said quietly, feeling emotional from watching the scene of Sesshomaru and Kenichi's embrace.

"Bye daddy!" Kenichi waved as his father left the room. He was completely unaware on the affect he had on the man.

* * *

Later that day Kagome found herself in the bathroom of her own home. Sango and Kenichi were in the living room watching cartoons.

She was going to take a shower before calling her child's father. Appearance meant a lot to him and she wasn't going to embarrass herself any further. She had seen him briefly in the past; not enough for either of them to remember meeting. No, he never actually looked at her until the night of their son's conception. She probably did look pretty cute that night, but that was three years ago and nobody went for cute anymore. Besides, she was drunk as a skunk and too easily gave herself to him.

Kagome blushed at the memory. She hadn't thought of their night together in a very long time. He really did ruin every experience she'd ever had after that. She'd been with only a couple more guys in the last few years, no one made her feel the way Sesshomaru did.

She shook her head, climbing into the shower. There was no reason to be reminiscing about sleeping with him.

The only other times she'd seen Sesshomaru was at work and at the hospital. She looked amazing while at work, no doubt about that. She had her hair and makeup done perfectly, and her body was not only on display but she looked sexy. Although, hooking up with a guy the first time you talk him and then seeing each other at a strip club for an overdue meeting was not good. Then he sees her after a bad accident days later and she was a looking like a hot mess.

No, she was going to look like a normal, attractive person this time.

The hot water felt heavenly on Kagome's body. Her muscles were so sore, and the water caressed her therapeutically. She almost moaned while washing her hair, the smell of the shampoo getting rid of the sick hospital odor she had begun to take on. The few cuts on her body slightly burned but it was cleansing so she couldn't have cared less.

When she stepped out the shower she felt rejuvenated. That is, until she looked in the mirror.

"Ugh," she groaned, "I look terrible." The cuts on her face would take quite some time to heal. Her eye was still badly bruised, though the swelling was gone. She could easily cover it those things with makeup, luckily. Her bottom lip was still slightly swollen and very much scabbed.

"Guess I won't be going back to work anytime soon," she said quietly. How could she? Nobody would want to get any dances from the woman who looks like she got beat up. "Sesshomaru will get to have his way for now… for a little bit, at least."

She decided to start running a bath for her son. As the tub began to fill, she got dressed in black sweatpants and a white tank top. Simple and comfortable. She may have not looked her best due to the damage done from the accident, but nothing would take away her perfect figure.

"Kenichi!" she called out to the boy as she stood in the bathroom, "Come in and take a bath."

A few moments later the child stood in the doorway with an adorable pout. "I don't wanna." He crossed his arms across his chest.

Kagome shut off the water and turned around to look at him. "Honey, you smell like a hospital."

"No mommy," he shook his head, "please?"

"Ah uh." She wagged her finger at him. "Undress and get in the tub. I already put a couple of toys in there for you."

"But momm-" she cut him off.

"No buts about it mister," she said sternly, "you get yourself undressed right now." Then she grinned. "When you're all clean I'll call your father to come over."

His eyes lit up. "Really?" He already began to take his clothes off.

"Yep." She gave him a small smile, somewhat hurt that he would so willingly bathe for his father but not for her. Although, he was a child and Sesshomaru was new in his life; kids love new things, while they're still new... "You have to get all clean for him. Okay?"

"Okay." Kenichi walked up to the tub and Kagome lifted him in.

"I'm gonna do my make up," she said, turning to the mirror. "You can play in the water till I'm done but when I am you have to wash up."

Kenichi didn't respond as he was already too busy playing with his bath toys. Kagome frowned at the pain in her wrist while trying to apply her makeup.

_'It figures I'd hurt my right wrist.'_ She tried her best to ignore the pain though; she was determined to look her best. Not to impress him of course, just to make him realize that they may not be equals in many ways but at least she looked good too; and to fix her bruised ego as well.

When she was satisfied with her looks she smiled at her reflection. Sure putting cover up wasn't best for the scratches on her face, but it sure looked good. She was glad to be finished since the nerves in her wrist were ringing from straining.

"Kenichi," she turned to her son, "let's get you all cleaned up as fast as we can. Mommy's wrist hurts." She held her hand out to him.

"Mommy hurts?" he looked up from his toys with wide eyes.

"Yes," Kagome nodded, "I have lots of boo boos from the car accident too. So I need you to behave yourself while I help you bathe."

"I can do it mommy," he said with a determined look upon his face. "Don't help."

"Awh," Kagome smiled, "how about I supervise?" She wanted to make sure he still did a good job cleaning himself. Last time he had only washed his hands and then told her he was done.

Luckily, Kenichi did a great job bathing and Kagome only had to help him with his face and hair. He was running around the apartment naked in his pull ups and a neck brace while Kagome tried to figure out what clothes to put him in. She wanted him to look nice, she wanted to show Sesshomaru how could of a provider she was without his help.

To prove that she didn't need him in Kenichi's life, she'd do fine by herself. His presence was only necessary to give Kenichi the father/son bond he deserved to have. Sure the financial help would be a weight lifted off her shoulders, but Kagome was an independent woman who needed help from no man.

She settled on a Spiderman T-shirt and some jeans. When she finally had him dressed she decided to give Sesshomaru a call.

He didn't answer.

Kagome frowned but left a message.

"Hey, it's Kagome. Um… I was going to invite you over the apartment. Kenichi and I just finished bathing and I was about to start on dinner. I figured you could join us. Just give me a call, or text me. Bye."

She hung up the phone and stared at it. _'I wonder what he's doing.'_

She put the device down on the counter as she looked in the fridge. "Hey Sango," she called out, "what should I make for dinner with Sesshomaru?"

Her friend walked into the room and tilted her head. "I dunno. Why don't you make one of the frozen pizzas?"

Kagome raised an eyebrow. Sango usually didn't suggest such foods.

"I figured since Kenichi had such a long couple of days he might like it."

"Oh," Kagome nodded, "you're gonna eat pizza?"

"Of course not," Sango laughed. "Miroku is driving into town and we're going to grab dinner. No offense but I really don't want to be here for an awkward dinner with Sesshomaru."

"And I do?" Kagome retorted.

Sango shrugged. "You picked him," she said with a musical tone. "Besides, I'll be back after Miroku and I eat and watch a movie."

"You're going to a movie too?" Kagome was surprised.

"Mhmm," Sango grinned.

"Right." Kagome shook her head. "Not like you guys ever pay attention to the film itself."

"Too bad you and Sesshomaru can't join us; it'd be like a double date." Sango joked.

"Ha!" Kagome laughed. "I'm never going to a movie with you and Miroku ever again."

"Oh Kagome, it wasn't that bad."

"Oh yeah? We were sharing a drink Sango!" Kagome shook her head at the thoughts. "I inadvertently had Miroku's, uh, his germs in my mouth!"

"Okay, okay," Sango waved her hands, "that was my bad. I wasn't thinking. But it's funny now, right?"

Kagome shook her head. "You know what? I'm gonna go brush my teeth."

Sango burst out laughing as her best friend ran out of the kitchen.

When Kagome was done sanitizing her mouth she came back to the kitchen to see her phone blinking. She picked it up to read a text from Sesshomaru.

_My apologies. Working out, I'm done now. Address?_

Kagome typed her address and apartment number into the phone and sent it to him. He never responded to her but she knew he would be on his way as soon as he read it.

* * *

Kagome was sitting on the couch with Kenichi watching a movie when she heard a knock at the door. She was filled with anxiety at the thought of Sesshomaru being in her home. She quickly got up and moved to open the door for him.

"Hi." She said nervously.

Sesshomaru nodded his greeting as he stepped into her apartment.

Kenichi looked over from the couch and yelled with excitement.

"Daddy!" He ran around the furniture and straight into Sesshomaru's legs.

"Hello." Sesshomaru smiled at the boy.

"I threw a pizza in the oven," Kagome said as she watched the two.

"Pizza?" Sesshomaru frowned.

"Well yeah," she got defensive, "Kenichi loves pizza, and I thought it would be a nice welcome home meal for us." At least, Sango thought so, but Kagome agreed.

"Hn." Sesshomaru was not a big fan of pizza. It was unhealthy and a waste to eat. He would have one slice though, if only to bond with his son.

Kagome narrowed her eyes at him. "I'll go grab it now; it's been in the oven to stay warm. Kenichi can show you to the table."

"Follow me!" the boy said excitedly.

They did not have to walk far. It was just a humble sized apartment and the dining area was adjacent to the living room.

Sesshomaru took a seat at the round table. Kenichi sat next to him and mimicked his father's good posture.

Kagome came out with the pizza and a sippy cup for her son. She couldn't trust him with a regular cup; he was too excited around his father and was bound to spill it.

"Sesshomaru," she said as she walked back into the kitchen, "what can I get you to drink?"

"Water please."

She came back with a bottle of water and a glass of wine for herself. She needed a drink.

Sesshomaru ate his pizza slice very slowly, savoring the taste. It was delicious! He hadn't had pizza in years; it was not a part of his strict diet. This meal would be a secret from all his trainers.

Kagome had only one piece as well. She didn't want to eat more than Sesshomaru, then she'd feel like a fatty. Even if she had a great body, she was smaller than him, so if she at more than him she would just feel bad about herself. Not only that, but just the fact that Sesshomaru Taisho was in her home ruined her appetite.

Kenichi on the other hand was reaching for his fourth piece when his mother swatted his hand away.

"That's enough for you," she said. "You're appetite sure has increased lately."

"Cause I'm growing!" he answered with a wide smile.

"I know," Kagome pouted, "and I don't like it. My baby is turning into a grown up."

"Ah huh." He nodded his head and grinned proudly. "I'm gonna be like daddy." He pointed a greasy finger at his father.

Kagome froze at his words. This was too surreal. She felt like she was on some weird television sitcom with a fake family. Who could blame her though? If someone came up to her a week ago and said that she'd be having Sesshomaru over for pizza she would have laughed in their face. This was not natural and Kagome was feeling very uncomfortable.

Sesshomaru only smirked at his son's comments. He remembered when he was young he felt the same way. He always longed to best his own father in anything and everything. He relished the fact that a few years ago he surpassed the man in height by only an inch, but Inuyasha was still shorter than both.

"Mommy."

Kenichi brought his parents out of their thoughts.

"Kenichi," Kagome shook her head to leave her daze, "go put your plate away and then wash your hands."

He left the table to follow her instructions.

"He is very obedient." Sesshomaru commented. He was envious at the control Kagome had on the boy, hopefully one day Kenichi would listen to him just as much as he did his mother.

"Thanks," Kagome smiled, but her smile was strained. It was very obvious to the man beside her.

"Are you well?" Sesshomaru asked.

She turned to look at him. "How are you acting so normal?"

He tilted his head.

"Um hello?" she threw her hands up in exasperation, "you're at _my_ house, having a _family dinner _with our son."

"That is correct."

"None of this is bothering you? Am I the only one going crazy right now?" She definitely was. Or at least she was the only one feeling crazy enough to mention it.

"I find it strange, if that is what you are asking." It was definitely an adjustment.

Kagome glared at him. It was obvious that he was much better at keeping his composure than she.

"Daddy," Kenichi walked back in the room with a new set of clothes on. "Want to watch a movie with me and mommy?"

"Sure," Sesshomaru nodded at the boy and gave him a small smile. "You changed clothes?"

"Uh huh," the boy spun around, showing off his black Batman footie pajamas.

"It's new," Kagome clarified. "I just bought it the other day, he's insisted on wearing every night."

"I see." Sesshomaru said. He picked up his plate to take it to the sink.

"I'll get it." Kagome said. Kenichi knew how to work the electronics and she could use the time to clean as time to get her mind together.

Sesshomaru thanked her and then followed the child to the living area only a few feet away.

"You sit here." Kenichi patted a spot on the sofa. Sesshomaru did as the boy asked. He really didn't want to sit and watch a movie with them. It was sure to be something uninteresting. _'I suppose this is what parenting is all about. Doing things I would never do otherwise.' _He smirked at his own thoughts.

He barely heard any noise as Kagome cleared the dishes off the table and disappeared into the kitchen.

She stood with her hands gripping the edge of the counter near the sink. _'Get it together girl,'_ she pleaded with herself. '_Ugh, this is just too weird.'_

She shook her head trying not to focus on everything that was going wrong and thinking about the positives. _'Well at least Kenichi is happy. How long has he been waiting for a night like this?'_

With that in mind, Kagome was able to steel her nerves. She would just play along, go with the flow and they would have a '_normal'_ family night as hard as it was to believe; she would try to, for her son.

_'I can do this. Just pretend that this impossible situation is possible,'_ she coached herself. "And try not to make it more awkward." That she said out loud, knowing they guys wouldn't hear her.

With a nod and a bit more confidence she turned around and walked into the living room. The sight before her made her heart skip a beat.

Kenichi had just crawled up onto the couch. Sesshomaru was still sitting on his designated corner, straight and rigid; obviously out of his comfort zone. Then Kenichi scooted towards the man and leaned on him.

It was an "Awh" moment for anyone to witness.

Except for Kagome. As much as she was happy that her son could finally cuddle with his father, she felt the green monster of jealously trying to creep out. Kenichi was _her_ baby. He's supposed to want to cuddle with _her _not _him_!

She shook the thoughts from her head and walked into the room. '_Positive, Kagome,_' she repeated to herself, _'be positive.'_

"So what movie did you pick, sweetheart?" she asked as she sat on the opposite end of the couch.

"Shrek!" the boy answered with a grin.

_'Not again!'_ Kagome frowned. "Have you seen it before?" she asked Sesshomaru.

He looked up from his child to her and simply answered, "No."

"Lucky you," Kagome smirked. She and Kenichi had seen that movie too many times to count. Kagome was tempted to make it 'disappear' if it wouldn't break Kenichi's heart.

Sesshomaru raised a brow at her statement before turning back to the flat screen.

"Mommy," Kenichi looked over at his mother. "Sit closer." By this point Sesshomaru was a bit more comfortable and relaxed into the corner of the couch; Kenichi was cuddled on his side and his left arm was stretched along the back of the seat.

Kagome looked at the pair in front of her and noticed that even though Sesshomaru didn't move his arm, he closed his fist. As if somehow closing himself off. She really didn't want to get too close to the man but there was no way she'd just give up the chance to give Kenichi attention.

"Mommy?" the boy looked up at her with a frown. Kenichi was quite the mama's boy, and for her to stop to think about sitting by him confused him.

"Sorry," she smiled apologetically. Then she scooted closer towards the 'twins' until there was only inches separating her from Kenichi and Sesshomaru's forearm was directly behind her shoulders. All he had to do was lower his hand down a couple inches and they'd be cuddling like a real family.

Thankfully Sesshomaru also noticed that and he bent his arm at the elbow to bring his hand behind his own head. Kagome then leaned back into the couch, a little bit more at ease.

Over the course of the next hour and a half, all three people were having different reactions to the movie playing before them.

Kenichi was smiling the whole time, and laughing at some parts. Even the parts that were sad he smiled at, because he knew how it would end. Kenichi would even laugh _before_ something funny happened, since he would expect it. Reactions like that confused his father.

Sesshomaru didn't find the movie very entertaining at all. Some parts he could understand a child finding funny, but when Kenichi would laugh from his own thoughts Sesshomaru would just focus on what happened and figuring out why the boy thought it was funny. Overall though, he was bored.

Kagome may have been looking at the screen, but she'd seen this movie so many million times that she found herself daydreaming the majority of the way through. She thought about a few things for the most part. For one, she couldn't quite wrap her head around the fact that Sesshomaru was at her house watching Shrek with their son. Kagome never did drugs in her life, but she questioned if this was all just a hallucination. If not a hallucination then maybe she had gone insane, hell as strange as the situation was she could have dreamt it up.

'_Maybe that's it,'_ she surmised, _'maybe I'm in a coma from the car accident and I'm dreaming._' She looked to her right to see Sesshomaru and his mini-me staring intently at the screen. _'My god, they look alike!'_ She glanced over again before Sesshomaru turned his head to catch her staring. His golden eyes locked onto her sapphires. She whipped her face back to the television, cheeks red from the embarrassment. _'Nope, not a dream!'_

Most of her musings were about her disbelief at how fate was working. Second to that, she pondered on just how this whole 'family' would work. So Sesshomaru wanted to visit each month and Kagome was more than grateful that he wasn't trying to take Kenichi from her, but she still had some reservations about it. She was still unhappy with the thought of not being with Kenichi for days at a time, and would they even spend any time together as a family? It would be nice for Kenichi to have his father-son time but Kagome valued the idea of doing things as a group. She was unsure as to why, seeing as how uncomfortable she felt being around Sesshomaru, but isn't it best for children to be with their parents? Parents as in plural, both of them.

If Kagome had a choice she would magically make it so that she was married to the father of her child. Not that she wanted to marry Sesshomaru, but maybe that Kenichi's father would be someone else. Someone who she could see having a future with. Not a man who lived a completely differently lifestyle than hers. It's not like she had any idea about who Sesshomaru was as a person, or his values and what he would instill in her child.

The last thing on the woman's mind was Sesshomaru's family. She knew Inuyasha, and not as well as she used to, and had met his mother and father; but Kagome remembered that Inuyasha and Sesshomaru were only half brothers. Sesshomaru had a different mother than Inuyasha. She had obviously never heard anything about the woman other than what Inuyasha had told her in the past; and that wasn't much beyond him lamenting the fact that he and Sesshomaru were only _half-brothers_ and that their dad left Sesshomaru's mom for Inuyasha's.

Kagome wondered if Sesshomaru's mom was one of those scorned bitter women. Did he even have a relationship with her? If so then she supposed they would all have to meet eventually. Kagome wasn't looking forward to seeing anyone from his family.

She would easily be able to put off distant relatives since she had a black eye and was recovering from the accident.

_'But his immediate family…'_ she'd probably have to see them all soon.

"Kagome." A deep voice surprised her.

"Huh?" she felt her eyes refocus as she went back to Earth. She looked at the man, confused.

"The movie is over." He said quietly as he tilted his head towards the television.

Kagome glanced over to see the credits scrolling.

"Oh," she said. "Sorry." She looked back over to him but he was looking down at the boy on his side. Kenichi had managed to fall asleep; he had his body draped across one of his father's legs and an arm wrapped around the man's stomach.

It was a cute sight to see.

Sesshomaru did not know how to proceed. He was here to spend time with Kenichi and the boy fell asleep on him. He was unable to reach the phone in his back pocket but thinking about when he arrived and how long the movie was it couldn't have been past nine. Although, he had no idea when the child's bed time was.

"I'm sorry," Kagome whispered, standing up, "he didn't get to take a nap today. I'm surprised he even behaved so well with that in mind." She smiled at her own statement. Kenichi could get quite cranky when he doesn't take his nap. She supposed his good behavior was from his excitement of his father hanging out with him.

Sesshomaru nodded. He didn't know the boy took naps. _'How old are children supposed to be when they stop taking naps anyways?'_ He really didn't know anything about kids.

"Here," Kagome stepped forward, "I'll put him to bed." She was hesitant about getting too close to Sesshomaru because it was evident that she would have to unclasp Kenichi's hands from the man's shirt.

"I'll do it."

Kagome held herself back and stood to watch. "Just move gently and he won't wake up."

Sesshomaru nodded. He appreciated the advice but he was still upset that he didn't know the information himself. It would seem he had some resentment he'd have to work on.

With careful fingers Sesshomaru was able to pry the child's fingers from his clothes. It wasn't too hard and Kenichi stirred, bringing his arms to his chests before snuggling into Sesshomaru once more. Then Sesshomaru moved to scoop the small boy into his arms.

He stood up and looked at Kagome.

She was so engrossed in the scene before her he had to clear his throat for her to make a move.

"Oh," she blushed, "sorry, it's this way." She moved past him and led him down a hall. Walking to her room, she opened the door and frowned.

She really didn't want Sesshomaru to know that she shared a room with Kenichi. What if he thought even less of her because he didn't have his own room?

"I'll take him now," she offered.

"Nonsense." Sesshomaru shook his head. He was already carrying the child, and he secretly _wanted_ to tuck him in to bed. Kagome wasn't going to take that from him. How many times had she put him to bed? Too many times to count; Sesshomaru knew his number, it was zero. No, he would be tucking his son into bed tonight.

'_Shit,'_ she cursed. "Okay," she opened the door and kept the light off. The lighting from the hall would be enough to illuminate the room. If Kenichi was to wake up while being put to sleep he'd stay up, determined to spend time with the adults.

Sesshomaru followed Kagome to the opposite side of the room where Kenichi's small bed was. He instantly took notice that the two shared a room. Much to Kagome's dismay, Sesshomaru was unhappy with that. _His_ son should have his own room.

Kagome pulled back the covers and Sesshomaru gently laid their son down. Kagome stepped back to watch once it occurred to her that this was Sesshomaru's first time putting Kenichi to sleep.

Kenichi instantly tossed and turned for a few seconds before setting into a comfortable position.

Sesshomaru carefully pulled the blanket up the boys chin and did his best to adjust the blanket, making sure the boy was completely covered. He had that strange warmth spreading though his chest again, and his heart felt light. He ignored Kagome's presence there as he did what he never imagined he'd do; at least, not for quite a few years.

"Good night my son," he whispered. Then he gave him a kiss on the forehead and sat back on his haunches, watching the boy sleep peacefully. He placed his hand on the boy's covered shoulder and squeezed it for a moment, smiling.

* * *

AN: Do I have to tell you that I don't own Shrek? Well that was over 5k words! Probably one of my longest chapters yet! :)

Please leave me your thoughts!


	10. Like an Ogre

AN: Thank you for the reviews, they motivate me to make more time to write.

* * *

It seemed as though he was under a spell. He did not feel himself want to leave. It was as if he could stand vigil all night as the boy slept, just watching him. _'Wait,'_ he thought, _'why do I want to watch him?'_ That's a little bit too stalkerish for his liking. Sesshomaru didn't realize just how normal it was to watch your child sleep. Mostly when they're babies, although Kenichi did not exist to him before the previous day. So he still had the newborn affect on the man.

Sesshomaru turned to leave the room and Kagome smiled at her sleeping child before following him out. They both walked back into the living room and Sesshomaru sat back down in the corner he was previously in. This time, Kagome chose to sit on the loveseat.

Sesshomaru was busy trying to access his feelings for the bonding moment he just had with Kenichi, while Kagome tried figuring out what to say. Without Kenichi there, it was terribly awkward. Though, they still needed to finish their discussion from the afternoon.

"So," Kagome finally decided how to break the ice. "What did you think about the movie?"

"I did not care for it," he answered truthfully.

"Really?" Kagome tilted her head. "Everybody loves Shrek. I mean, even if you don't like story line, the moral of the story is something you can't disagree with."

"An overweight, green monster and a princess fall in love." He said matter-of-factly. "Oh, and let's not forget that a talking donkey and a dragon also get together."

"Okay the donkey and dragon thing is weird." She had to agree with that. "But how often does a beautiful princess fall for an ogre?"

"Yes," Sesshomaru smirked, "and then she also becomes fat and ugly." Kagome's mouth dropped open at his harsh words.

"You- Fiona is not fat," Kagome defended. "She's perfectly average for an ogre."

"I do not see the appeal in being an ogre, although the short man did not look much better himself. It's a shame the lovely princess had such a poor selection."

"The whole point of the story is that you're not supposed to judge people on how they look," she explained. "You judge them by how they are on the inside."

"Hn. Their offspring will be ugly too." Kagome's mouth dropped open, again! This time she threw her hand over her mouth.

"You are wrong." She shook her head. "You can't talk about people like that."

"I am not talking about anyone," he tilted his nose up. "This is a children's movie. I am talking about fictional characters."

"Fictional babies though! You just don't call children ugly."

"They will be ugly. Would you want a child looking like that?"

"Well- not exactly." She began to feel frustrated. "I mean, I'm not an ogre! If I was an ogre then yes, but I'm not… I want my kids to look like me." She pointed her thumb to her chest.

"How unfortunate for you that he looks like me." Sesshomaru smirked. Their debate was over.

Kagome's lips parted at the statement. It made her feel some kind of way, she didn't know what exactly.

_'What just happened?'_ she asked herself.

"Well," she tried to catch her bearings, "Kenichi is perfect anyways, and he has my smile." Kagome smirked at least gave one physical feature to him.

Kagome and Sesshomaru just looked at each other. Neither knew how to continue. They were having this strange moment of pride over their son, but before this they had no relationship, yet it seemed as if Kenichi was a bridge between them. Yet, it wasn't love, it wasn't friendship. Maybe it was appreciation. Maybe it was this familiarity because they both cared greatly about this child and they would forever have that special bond that would be shared with no one else. Whatever it was, neither of them knew what emotion they were feeling nor what to say to the other.

"So…" Kagome said uncomfortably. She started the last conversation, it was his turn.

"I suppose it would be wise to finish our previous discussion."

"Right," the corners of her lips bent upwards, "the one about you trying to make me quit my job?"

"Yes."

"I'll make this easy. I'm not quitting. Although, you'll be happy to know I will take a break for the time being. At least until my wounds heal, but I will be returning." She was determined, Sesshomaru could tell.

"Kagome," he decided to try a different way, "how much are your monthly expenses?"

"Oh," she wasn't expecting that so soon. "Well, I did calculate what I spend on Kenichi earlier. Let me grab the paper." She lifted herself off the sofa and rushed away towards the hallway so she could take the paper off her nightstand.

She took her time returning, as she checked on Kenichi and was trying not to wake him up as she left. This time she sat on the same couch as Sesshomaru, on the opposite end though. She looked down at the paper in her hands.

"Well," she explained, "I tried to add up what I spend on food, clothes, entertainment, and his miscellaneous expenses."

Sesshomaru nodded and she continued.

"I figured between two and three hundred."

"How much do **you** spend in a month?" he asked.

"Why?" Kagome scrunched her face.

"Just answer the question."

"Okay," she tilted her head to think. "Well, Sango and I split the rent, utilities, and bills by half so usually for me with both of those together it's like three hundred seventy five. Um," she placed her thumb and index finger on her chin, "then we split groceries and that's anywhere from one to two hundred total. Oh and my phone bill is eighty. Plus my car payment and insurance and," she shook her head. "Why do you even want to know?"

"I'd like to make a proposal."

"For what?" she was utterly lost and confused.

"I will give you the money for rent, all your bills, food, and Kenichi's expenses."

"What!?" Did she hear him wrong? _'Did he just say…? No!'_

"Must I repeat myself?" he was getting annoyed. It's one thing to offer so much but then to still be refused?

"I just find this hard to believe. You can't be serious."

"All I ask is that you quit your job." How could she refuse, what she was giving up compared to what she'd be getting. There's no way she tell him no. "You can go to school, get a different job; do whatever the hell you want. Just as long as you stay out of the strip club."

"Sesshomaru…" she trailed off. _' Will he really do that? That's a lot of money.'_ She was stuck between a rock and a hard place. She'd love to quit her job, but she wanted to be independent, and the most money she can get would be from dancing. Then again, don't most girls quit when they have a guy who can take care of them? Although, this situation is different; Sesshomaru was not her man. He had no reason to be giving her money and taking care of her. Sure he has a lot of money but it's not right for her to take so much from him.

"No." She shook her head. She would feel too guilty taking his money in exchange to not work, as if she was manipulating her way into his wallet like so many of her coworkers try to do.

"Kagome," now he was getting very agitated. Was she dense?

"This is crazy," she threw her hands up, "I can't accept that."

"Any woman wanting to get out of that business would accept my offer in a heartbeat." He glared at her. "It is now apparent that you don't want better for yourself nor Kenichi."

"Excuse me?" she craned her neck to the side. "Everything I do is for him!" From the moment she found out she was pregnant everything she did was for her son. _'How dare he?'_ she fumed inwardly.

"I am willing to do this all for my son _and_ for you as well. I am going to fly out here every month just to spend time with him. I do not ask for much on your part and yet the little I do ask for is too much."

"…" Kagome did not have a response. The truth was, Sesshomaru had asked nothing from her except to quit the job that she hated. Well she didn't hate it, but she only did it out of necessity. Nobody grew up with the goal of being an exotic dancer.

Sesshomaru stayed silent, letting his words sink in to her thick skull.

"Look," she said after a minute passed by, "let's say I was to accept your offer. What's going to happen when you get a girlfriend? I'm pretty sure she won't like you spending so much money on me. I'd feel so much more secure being independent." Sesshomaru almost snorted at her outrageous theory.

"As if a female would have any input on what I do with my money. I already suggested before, get another job then, do something with your life."

Kagome looked away; her eyes were brimming with tears at his insult.

"I am doing something with my life," she whispered harshly. Her voice raised as tears began to flow. "Did you see that healthy child in my room? I have been raising him by my fucking self this whole time. I do have goals Sesshomaru. I'm sorry that I couldn't go to school when I graduated college because they didn't want newborn babies in their dorms. I wanted to go to college but I had to stay and work my ass off to pay for Kenichi's medical bills! Then I started dancing and I wasn't late on all the bills for once since he was born." She stood up as he sat on her couch, so she could look down to him.

"Alright," he said, standing up. Their discussion was spiraling out of control; he was ready to end it.

"No," she held her hands out. "I'm not done! Do you see me struggling Sesshomaru?" It was a hypothetical question. "Nope. I have nice things and my son never has to go without. I have plans to go back to school when he's in kindergarten because he's only had one parent his whole life and I already was away from him enough with work. I-" he interrupted her, leaning close to her face.

"It is not my fault he had one parent this whole time." She would not insinuate that it was either.

"That doesn't matter," she yelled into his face. "The point is that all he had was me. So don't sit here and insult me." She shoved her index finger into his sternum as she spoke. "If the roles were reversed I would have already graduated college by now and have been working in a dentist office and you," she pressed harder, "would be stuck in your hometown doing whatever you could to provide for my son and make as much as you could without sacrificing time with him. I think I'm doing a pretty fucking decent job if I say so myself!" Her finger was sure to leave a bruise on his chest and she felt like she'd break it if she poked him any harder.

"You," he grabbed her hand and lifted it away from himself as he spoke calmly, "are lucky you aren't a man." Sesshomaru would never hit a female but if he ever was going to do so it would be now. This woman had been screaming inches from his face, spewing out insults, and actually poking him!

"Fuck you." She spat out. As far as Kagome was concerned he had crossed the line. She had made so many sacrifices for her son and Sesshomaru obviously didn't appreciate a damn thing. Kenichi was amazing and he didn't have anything to do with it, so he had no right to insult her about anything.

"I see Inuyasha has had a considerable amount of influence on you." He took a step back, with a haughty smile.

Kagome just glared at him. He returned the gesture.

A small noise caught their attention and they both turned to the source of the sound. Two sets of eyes landed on a sniffling three year old, peeking around the corner with wide teary eyes.

"Oh no," Kagome said to herself. All of her anger was gone and replaced with guilt.

Sesshomaru was beyond frustrated. Who knows what the boy witnessed. Although Kagome did almost all of the yelling he was sure that Kenichi wouldn't like that his father upset his mother so such an extent.

"Honey." Kagome gently called out to the boy, none of the three people moving from their spot. "Did we wake you?"

Kenichi did not answer; he only looked at them with wide eyes. He had never heard his mom yell before. She had raised her voice at him, but he was a good boy and never pushed her to where she was now.

"Kenichi," Sesshomaru said. "Why don't you sit on the couch? We can all talk." During his early childhood, Sesshomaru had dealt with his own parents arguing. He was always scared, just as his own son now was. His parents would then bring him into the room and apologize, then calm him down; eventually he'd get put back to bed.

To Kagome's surprise, Kenichi slowly stepped out from the hallway. His eyes were glued to the floor as he shuffled his feet along the carpet. He climbed onto the sofa and sat with his knees pressed against his chest, his arms wrapped around his legs, and his head between his knees. Frightened tears still escaped his eyes.

Sesshomaru was happy that his son still listened to him instead of hating him. He took that as his cue to mend their situation.

"Son," he started, "I apologize for waking you up." He eyed Kagome, who quickly caught on. She'd never been in a situation like this. Her own parents rarely argued, and never where she could hear. She followed Sesshomaru's lead. The fire in her was long gone and her only concern was her child.

"Me too," she said, "I am so sorry for waking you up and upsetting you."

Kenichi only nodded at his parents words. He continued his sniffling, but he wiped his eyes with an arm. He still did not look up at either of his parents.

Sesshomaru continued as he moved to sit down next to his son.

"Sometimes, adults have disagreements." He noticed Kagome nodding in agreement as she moved to sit on the floor in front of Kenichi. Her hand reaching around his side to his back. "We raise our voices when we shouldn't." He eyed Kagome, since it was mostly her who was yelling.

"It's true, honey." Kagome rubbed small circles on Kenichi's back. "Everyone makes mistakes, but it's okay because it's over now. We're not gonna yell anymore."

"I… I was," he paused to wipe his runny nose, "scared."

"I know," Kagome cooed, "and we are both so, so sorry."

"There is nothing to fear, Kenichi," Sesshomaru said, "nothing will ever happen to you. Your mother and I will protect you from everything." Including themselves; if the occasion were to ever arise again, Sesshomaru planned to take his leave as soon as things started to get out of hand like it just did.

"Pwomise?" He finally chose to look up, uncertainty shone in the small boy's eyes.

"I promise." Sesshomaru nodded to the boy and turned to Kagome. "Do you have anything for him to snack on before he goes back to bed?"

"I do," she answered, determined to make it better for her son. Kagome stood up and rushed to the kitchen. She returned moments later with a couple of cookies in hand and a small cup of milk. "Here Kenichi." She handed him the cookies and then sat next to him, opposite of Sesshomaru, to hold the drink for him.

He dipped his cookie in the glass and took a bite. It had been awhile since he had a cookie and it was sweet, chocolaty, and delicious.

"Mm," he said, grinning at his mother and father.

Sesshomaru smiled back at his son, happy to calm the boy's fears. He felt as though he had just accomplished one of his first milestones of fatherhood.

Kenichi broke the second cookie in half. Kagome held herself back from chastising him about the crumbs he just made fall.

"Here," the boy smiled and held out a half for each parent. Kagome's heart melted at his actions.

"Oh Kenichi," she gushed, taking her half, "you are so sweet. Thank you."

"Thank you." Sesshomaru was surprised at how thoughtful his son was. He watched in amazement as the boy hugged his mother.

Both parents slowly nibbled on their small cookie half as Kenichi just enjoyed their presence and that they were no longer fighting.

After a few minutes of silence the situation had completely diffused itself. Sesshomaru was slightly frustrated that he was still unsuccessful in his attempt to sway Kagome's career decision but he would try again some other time. Maybe when she realized just how much help he would be it would change her mind. He was mentally exhausted with how much of an emotional rollercoaster his visit had been. First the awkwardness of eating dinner, then the boring movie followed with a heartwarming experience of tucking his son in bed, next was the heated argument with Kagome, and worst was getting caught and scaring his child. He was ready for the night to end, not willing to find out what would happen next if he stayed. Although, it couldn't get much worse.

"I think it's an appropriate time for me to leave." He said softly while standing up.

Kenichi's smile disappeared and he left the cocoon of his mother's arms to stand on the couch. He didn't notice her frown.

"Stay here." Kenichi said.

Sesshomaru sighed and Kagome flinched. It was obvious that their son did not realize that his parents were not together. Although, neither would want to ruin his idea of a family.

"Honey," Kagome said causing the boy to turn and look at her. "Your father lives somewhere else, he going to his own house to sleep. So he can sleep in his own bed."

Kenichi paused to think. His mother had her own bed, Sango had her own bed, and he had his own bed. But sometimes he would share with his mom. He smiled, he had an idea.

"Daddy, you sleep in my bed." He said happily. He could just sleep with his mom.

"Hn." Sesshomaru smirked at his son's tenacity. "I do not fit in your bed."

"Oh," the boy frowned.

Kagome let out a breath she was holding in. Crisis avoided, there was no way Sesshomaru would be spending the night there.

"Then sleep in mommy's bed." He told his father. His mother's bed was much larger, they would both fit easily.

Sesshomaru looked at Kagome. Not to ask for permission but to ask for help. He raised an eyebrow at her, _'Say something.'_

She understood his expression and quickly thought of an excuse.

"Kenichi…" she started, unsure of what to say. She paused for a moment as the two males stared at her, both waiting for the explanation.

Sesshomaru realized that she couldn't think of one just as an idea came to him.

"I have to go to work." He quickly stated.

"Oh," Kenichi frowned. "Okay." He was not happy, but he understood that when his parent had to go to work, they **had to** go to work.

Kagome was happy with Sesshomaru's quick thinking.

"Kenichi," she said kindly, "why don't you give him a hug before he leaves?"

The small boy hopped off the couch and Sesshomaru bent on one knee to get down to the child's height. Kenichi wrapped his arms around the man's neck and Sesshomaru pulled the boy closer into his chest, holding him tightly.

A few moments passed and Sesshomaru gave his son a quick squeeze before releasing him. He stood to his full height.

Kagome also stood up from her spot on the couch and began to walk Sesshomaru over to the door as Kenichi climbed on the couch to watch the exchange from across the room.

They had less than a minute to either apologize to each other about earlier or just pretend it never happened.

Both opted for the latter.

"Kagome," Sesshomaru said, before stepping into the hallway. "I will give you a call tomorrow. If you need anything you know my number."

"Okay," she nodded and gave him a small smile, trying to be civil. "Have a good night."

He nodded as he began to walk away. "You as well."

* * *

AN: Tell me what you think :)


	11. Blast From the Past

AN: Thanks for the reviews guys. I've noticed that some people seem frustrated with Sesshomaru and some are with Kagome. That makes me feel good though because it shows that both have valid feelings and points. They just need to compromise. Well I hope you like this next chapter.

* * *

Sesshomaru spent the whole day training hard with his brother and father. He wanted to spend time with Kenichi so he decided to push himself twice as hard. He would still do the same workout as planned, but finish in half the time. He would not allow the boy to be a distraction. Sesshomaru could be the boy's dad **and** the best fighter in the world. He just had to work really hard. And that he did.

He was utterly exhausted by the time he was done, though.

"Sesshomaru," Toga smirked as his eldest son struggled to catch his breath. "It's nice to see you putting that extra effort in. I don't know where it came from, but keep it up."

The man nodded at his father. He was too drained to speak. He just did his two hour work out in less than one. His muscles were exhausted from the extra strain but he was slightly proud of the accomplishment.

Sweat dripped from his face and bare chest as he stretched. He glanced at Inuyasha who was resting in between his sets of pull ups.

"Pft," the younger brother glared, "show off." Then he started to do his next set.

Sesshomaru's lip turned up at his brother's jealous behavior. He walked over to him.

"You will always be second to me," he said haughtily, "get used to it."

Inuyasha let go of the bar and landed on the ground, whipping himself around.

"Fuck you!" he said, pissed off. After everything he did for his older brother as of late, Sesshomaru was still going to treat him like this? Inuyasha wasn't having it. "Let's go."

"Hey!" Toga stormed over to his children.

"No," Inuyasha shouted, "he wants to fuck with me? Let's spar, right fuckin' now." He pointed his finger down towards the ground between them.

"Inuyasha," Toga said sternly, "you're busy. You still have a lot more things to do today. I will not have you sacrificing your training to fight."

"Argh," Inuyasha grumbled. "Fine," he looked at his brother. "When I'm done let's settle shit."

Sesshomaru let out a breath and smirked. "I have somewhere else to be." He walked away from his father and younger brother, knowing it would only push Inuyasha's buttons even more. He left the room, hearing a string of Inuyasha's colorful vocabulary behind.

Oh how he enjoyed teasing his brother. He would admit to only himself though, that with his exhausted state, Inuyasha might have been able to beat him today; but just this one time.

Sesshomaru hurried to take a shower and get himself dressed. It was a little after three thirty when he called Kagome.

After two rings she answered.

"Hey," a cheery voice greeted.

"Hello," he said, unsure of how to speak with her still.

"What's up?" she asked, waiting for him to say more. She didn't understand why every time he called her, it seemed as if he expected her to start the conversation.

"I've been thinking, and I'd like to take Kenichi to meet my mother today." He actually spent a lot of time thinking about it. He wasn't on the best terms with his mother, in his opinion she was a stuck up bitch. Though, he found it appropriate to introduce his son to his immediate family. If the circumstances were different he would have waited some time to let the woman know she'd be a grandmother, but Kenichi was already three years old, his presentation was well overdue with everyone.

"…" Kagome paused on the other line. She noticed that Sesshomaru only mentioned the child's name and not hers. In all honesty, she didn't want to meet this woman, but she wouldn't throw her son to the lions. "I think I'd feel a bit more comfortable if I were to come with you guys."

"That is acceptable." Sesshomaru nodded, even though she couldn't see him.

"Okay, well, we just got back from the park. Come over whenever; you'll have to pick us up since my car was totaled in the wreck." Although, she should have known he'd realize she had no car

"I had assumed as much." Sesshomaru answered and Kagome could hear teasing in his voice. He already had it set in his mind that he would be taking them there; obviously she had no form of transportation.

_'Duh,'_ Kagome thought. "Right, sorry." She was glad he couldn't see her embarrassed blush.

"Please dress nicely," Sesshomaru requested, "my mother will be judgmental." He heard Kagome snort before responding.

"At least you're honest." Her reaction had his lips turning up, half way into a smile. He started to make his way towards his car.

"I am leaving now."

"Oh, um, did you want a snack?"

Sesshomaru pulled his phone away from his face to stare at it for a moment. Then he brought the device back to his ear.

"Come again?" He asked, only to hear her laugh.

"I was going to make a sandwich for Kenichi before you get here," she explained. "Just wondering if you might want one too."

"I see." He frowned. He somewhat did appreciate the kind gesture, but they were not friends. She shouldn't be offering to make anything for him. "No, thank you. I will be drinking a protein shake as I drive over."

"Oh! Well, okay then…" Kagome stared outside the window. She didn't know what else to say to the man.

"I will be there soon." He said. Without waiting for her response he ended the call.

* * *

Kagome and Kenichi were waiting outside of their apartment building when Sesshomaru's car pulled up. Sesshomaru's first thoughts were to check how presentable their attire was. He rolled down his passenger window to get a better look.

She was dressed simply; a pair of tight jeans, strappy sandals, and a loose fitting, white button down blouse. She had a gold necklace, earrings and bracelet; all of which Sesshomaru presumed were fake, or at least only gold plated. She didn't seem to be wearing much make up, other than what she used to cover her bruised eye. Maybe mascara because her lashes looked thick. Her lip had almost healed; either that or she was wearing lipstick. Kagome's hair was loose, wavy and looked luscious with the breeze blowing through it.

He couldn't help but flashback to a time long ago when he had a fistful of her hair in his grasp, fully reminding him that he knew exactly what was under her clothes.

He shook his head at the thoughts. _'Inappropriate.'_ He chastised himself. That was the mother of his child he was thinking about! _'Wait, what?'_ He shook his head again. In most cases a man **should **be attracted to his child's mother, but this wasn't most cases. He didn't like her and she didn't like him. He was not allowed to be attracted to her and she was not allowed to be attracted to him.

Holding onto the woman's hand was a little Sesshomaru.

His hair was braided reaching down to the middle of his back. He was dressed in a red Iron Man shirt and a pair of dark jeans, accompanied with a pair of Avengers sneakers. The boy was jumping up and down, probably from excitement; his shoes lit up and flashed with each movement. He carried a small back pack, the contents of which were a mystery to Sesshomaru. What caught his attention, even more than the light up shoes was the neck brace wrapped around the boys neck. Sesshomaru's mother was going to just love that. Not.

Oh what a situation he was in!

He was surprised to see the woman carrying a car seat. Of course, he would need one to drive the child anywhere but it completely slipped his mind. He had a lot to learn.

"Daddy!" Kenichi ran up to car as it stopped a few feet near the curb.

Sesshomaru responded with a nod and small smile.

"Sesshomaru," Kagome said, lugging the large chair. "I'm guessing it's a no, but I'll ask anyways. Do you know how to install a car seat?"

The last thing he would ever do was admit to not knowing how to do something as simple as that. But he was not a liar either. So he shrugged.

"Yeah," Kagome said flatly. "Show me."

Sesshomaru nodded, it couldn't be that hard. Challenge accepted.

He shifted his gear selector to park and turned off his car. He gracefully exited the vehicle and walked around to the back passenger side. Kagome handed him the car seat and stepped back. He then opened the door and set it down. Then he saw the multiple belts hanging from it and just stared.

"Hn." He almost pouted.

"That's what I thought." Kagome said, letting small laugh out. '_Know it all.'_ "Let me take you through this step by step."

Sesshomaru moved to stand a bit away to watch as Kagome removed the contraption from his car.

"Okay," she started. "Kenichi," she looked at the small boy, "hold on to the car."

The child grabbed hold of the handle to the passenger door. "Okay!" he said.

"I do this," Kagome turned to look at Sesshomaru, "so that while I'm putting the seat in, he won't be running off anywhere, safety first."

Sesshomaru nodded. Impressed at her creative way to keep the child in check. He can distract himself by holding onto the car while she puts the seat in.

Then Kagome placed the seat in the car. "You take this seat belt," she said, holding the band out so he can see, "and you put it through this hole." She stepped back. "Here, you do it."

Sesshomaru nodded and did exactly as she instructed.

"Kay," she smiled, "now stick it through the hole directly across on the other side."

"Alright." He reached forward and did so. "Next?"

"Now you put it in the buckle," she heard the click and continued, "and then you're done."

Sesshomaru backed out from the car. "That's it?" He looked back from the seat, to her face, and then back to the seat. It seemed too easy.

"That's all," she confirmed as Kenichi walked around his father to climb into his chair. "The most difficult part is just adjusting the straps to fit him as he grows, but I'm not going to go through that now. I'll show some other time."

"Hn."

"Kenichi, show him how to buckle you in." She called out to the boy.

Sesshomaru watched the boy. He had two long straps, one in front of each arm which came together at a clip above his midsection. A little lower, each strap had a small metal hook. They both were inserted into a large buckle that was connected to a strap between his legs.

"That's all." The boy smiled at his father, proud of himself.

"Thank you for the demonstration." Sesshomaru gave the boy a small smile. Then he tugged at each belt to make sure they were secure.

Sesshomaru carefully closed the door and walked around the car as Kagome turned herself to check that everything had been fastened correctly. Once he was all set, she turned to face forward and put her own seatbelt on.

When Sesshomaru got in the car and turned it on Kagome stared at him, making the strangest face.

Before he could ask why she was looking at him weird he realized she wanted him to put his seatbelt on. He smirked, pulling the strap across his body and giving her a nod as he clicked it in. For all she knew, he was just messing with her. He made a mental note though, start wearing his seatbelt. Not because he wanted to listen Kagome, but to set a good example for his son.

"So," Kagome said, halfway frowning, "do we look good enough for your mom?" He couldn't help but smirk at her choice of words.

"You both are presentable." His answer was honest, and yet an understatement; Kagome looked more than good enough.

"Oh, thank you." That was all she said quietly, surprised at his answer. She had been expecting something condescending. _'Now I feel bad,'_ she thought. _'I shouldn't make him out to be such a bad guy. I mean he can't be that bad."_

Her eyes made their way to his form as he concentrated on exiting the parking lot with no accidents. Sesshomaru was wearing dark jeans and a grey, fitted V-neck shirt with a large design on the right bottom area. His arm muscles appeared larger than they did the previous night. It must have been due to swelling from his recent work out.

'_Yum.' _Her thoughts made her gasp. '_Bad Kagome! Don't think like that!'_

He heard her sharp intake of breath and looked over to her.

"Are you alright?" He asked, noticing that her face was suddenly red and her eyes were open wide.

"Me?" she pointed to herself, shaking her head profusely. "I'm fine." She turned her head to look out the window, thus ending any conversation they might have on the matter. Kagome couldn't believe she just checked Sesshomaru out, and almost got caught, and she actually liked what she'd seen! Sure he was textbook gorgeous, but all the things he said to her about being a dancer, and just his egoistical personality, the way he acted like he was above everyone; he wasn't her type.

Although, Kagome didn't really have a type. She was obsessed with Inuyasha as a teen, had a one night stand with Sesshomaru. Kagome could count on her two hands how many dates she'd had since having Kenichi. There had been eight dates with three men. Kagome went on four dates with a man named Paul, who she slept with; he was horrible in bed and the jerk had the nerve to break up with her after getting in her pants. Then she met up with her old friend from school, Hojo. After the third date and their first sexual encounter he had professed his love to her. Safe to say that scared her off. Then she went on a date with a guy who worked with Sango, his name was Ken. He seemed like a good guy but Kagome couldn't move past the fact that he shared a name with her son.

Every man she had ever met interested in being with her just didn't give her that feeling she had when she was infatuated Inuyasha, or the night Sesshomaru gave her their child. She needed a spark. She couldn't help but compare every guy she met to the man sitting beside her. Kagome didn't want to be with Sesshomaru, but she felt that if she was going to be with someone, that person would potentially be the stepfather of her child. She just didn't see anyone worthy enough. Hell, Sesshomaru wasn't even worthy enough in her eyes. But besides deserving to be in Kenichi's life, the man would be entering a broken family with Sesshomaru. The man beside her was handsome, intelligent, tough, successful, and wealthy. Any potential spouse would have to be able to confidently hold his own against Sesshomaru, and guys like that were hard to find.

Kagome could only imagine how intimidating and demeaning her child's father would be towards any guy she brought around.

Kagome sighed as she watched the passing scenery though the window. She was doomed to be alone.

The drive to Sesshomaru's mother's house was extremely long and awkward. It seemed as though the family had gotten over the previous night's arguing fiasco, but that didn't make anybody feel more comfortable. Well except for Kenichi at least, he was in heaven; he finally had his family. Just like on the movies, just like all the other kids. He had a mommy and a daddy. He was happy.

Sesshomaru and Kagome on the other hand, were not happy. They both avoided making eye contact with each other. Although, they both kept stealing glances at the other.

Why? Well, it seems that they both had come to the realization that the person in the other seat was going to be a permanent part of their life. They also were in complete denial about their attraction to each other. Although, for both, it was only in a physical aspect.

This was probably the first of many family car rides, and they weren't even a real family! Well they were, but Kagome and Sesshomaru weren't together. Time would tell what it'd be like when each had their own significant other to throw into the mixture. She could imagine the kind of women Sesshomaru was into, and it was the kind that she wouldn't get along with.

Kagome distracted herself from her thoughts by fiddling around with her cell phone. She did everything from read the news to looking at cat pictures online. She couldn't help but laugh at the "I need dis" cat meme.

Sesshomaru spared her a glance at her outburst. She stopped grinning and started blushing.

"Sorry." She said, looking out the window feeling like fool. If it were anyone else she'd show them the picture, but for some reason he didn't seem like the type to find LOLcat funny.

Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow at the odd woman and then turned his attention back to the road. Soon enough the houses started to get much bigger, signaling the arrival of his mother's area of town. They finally pulled into the driveway of a large brick house where Sesshomaru turned the car off with a sigh.

Kagome frowned at him. "Well if that's your reaction to being here how should I feel?" she asked.

He gave her a stale look. "I will do all the talking."

"That's fine by me," she snorted.

"Do not get sassy with her either. She is not a friendly woman." He turned his face away. "And I've never brought anyone to her before."

"Oh great." Kagome put her hand on her forehead. '_Now let's throw a kid in here too, see how that goes.'_

The trio got out of the vehicle, Kagome helped Kenichi since getting out of the car seat slowed him down.

"Kagome," Sesshomaru called out to her as he met them on the passenger side of the vehicle, "things would go better without the neck brace."

Kagome pursed her lips together in thought. She didn't want to make anything more tense than it had to be.

"I guess," she said. What could it hurt?

"Kenichi," Sesshomaru turned to the boy, "leave your neck brace in the car."

The boy smiled and took it off, throwing it on the seat. He was glad to be rid of the thing.

Sesshomaru ran his hands over his body, removing the imaginary wrinkles in his shirt and jeans. Then he rolled his shoulders and took a deep breath.

"Follow me."

He led them up the stairs where he rang the doorbell. They waited patiently for a few moments before it opened and a beautiful woman scowled at Sesshomaru.

"It is about time you come to give me a visit."

"Hello to you too, mother." Sesshomaru frowned. Of course she would rather lament on his absence than be grateful for his presence.

She was going to continue her complaining about the length of time since he had last come to see her but then she noticed the woman standing beside him.

"How rude," she glared at her only son, "do you plan to introduce me to this girl, or am I expected to invite a stranger into my home?" Her arms crossed over her chest and she tilted her head upwards, her small chin jutting out. Sesshomaru was taller than her, but she somehow managed to look down on him anyways.

The woman was too quick to insult him. With narrowed eyes Sesshomaru spoke.

"Mother, this is Kagome." His hand waved from one woman to the other. "Kagome, this is my mother." Kagome bowed politely to the woman in front of her.

Then Sesshomaru surprised his mother by adding one more person to his introduction.

"And this is our son."

* * *

AN: I'd like to ask you to take a moment and google "I need dis" funniest cat meme ever. I don't know why but it is. I laugh every time I stumble upon it. So if you've never seen it, check it out. If you have, check it out again; you know you'll laugh.  
Please review :)


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